


The Acolyte

by Tytoaster



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Grief, Implied/Referenced Torture, Not for republishing with out permission, PTSD, Post Game, Post Order 66, Psychometry, Reluctant Hero, bountyhunters, inquisitors - Freeform, rebuilding the order, slown burn(maybe)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 58,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21715387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tytoaster/pseuds/Tytoaster
Summary: When one young fugitive, desperate for credits, reluctantly takes up a career in bounty hunting; her first day doesn't quite go as planned. Now she and her captive, well... ah, new friend, Jedi knight Cal Kestis, are on the run from a new Inquisitor.  The Force may have willed them together under strange circumstances, but they find they do have a common goal; protecting the future of the Jedi. Only by learning to trust one another and accepting the past are the two going to be able to protect themselves and those they love from the ever-growing threat of the Empire.
Relationships: Cal Kestis & Merrin, Cal Kestis/Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 42
Kudos: 103





	1. The Bounty Hunter?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mysterious rookie bounty hunter has tracked Cal Kestis and his crew to the Moon Jedha where her actions will determine what kind of person she really is. Meanwhile, Cal is searching for a forgotten Jedi temple that could serve as a rebel base in the near future, unaware of the conflicted young woman tracking him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may or not have been influenced by the Mandalorian. But I just need more Cal content and continuation of his story. So I just had an idea and ran with it. Hope you like it.

* * *

The ship lurched as it left hyperspace. She let out a nervous sigh as she prepped the landing gear. Taking another look at the info display in the ship's console, she read through the profile again as it transferred to her holodisk.

“Cal Kestis,” she read out loud, “Enemy to the Empire, wanted dead or alive for; treason, anarchy, murder, theft… and the list goes on, busy young man,” she surmised. “Come on, where is the BOLO file… ah here!” she flicked open the attached file. “Consider armed and deadly, last seen in Mustafar system, known companions, yada yada...here known transport S-161 LX.”

When she had first read this she had raised her eyebrows. Herself being a fugitive, she was surprised by this. It was either bold or stupid for someone this wanted to travel in such a unique vessel. However, the bounty was only issued 3 months ago, she reasoned he could be inexperienced. 

She hoped, for her sake, he was inexperienced. 

The unique ship had caught the attention of an informant on Jedha, who had to refuel the ship on multiple occasions. As soon as her friend, Bolton, relayed the message to her, she took off. Her eyes glanced at the BOLO file once more and lingered on the digits that dragged her here from the outer rim.

“50,000 credits, a real high-profile job, great for an amateur-first-timer like me,” she mumbled to herself sarcastically.

Beggars can't be choosers, this job was all she had managed to download from a datapad a drunken bounty hunter had left unattended on the bar before he opened fire. Luckily for her, he was a terrible shot after 5 drinks. 

“You need the money, come on you've got this,” she gritted her teeth as she entered orbit around NaJedha’s moon; Jedha.

A long time ago she had been told Jedha was a sacred place. Now there was an emphasis on the _was_ , the Empire had made sure of that.

As much as she hated the Empire with all her being, she desperately needed the credits. Things were getting desperate back home. The Empire had finally crawled their way to one of the remotest planets of the outer rim. Last week they had terminated her 10-year contract 6 years too early. They were slowly terminating everyone's contracts and strongly encouraging everyone renew them with the Imperial Workforce.

She would do many things to survive, but she couldn’t risk signing up for the Imperial Workforce, the background check would end her. 

She implored the officer that came to her door with a datapad and bad news for some compensation to relocate. She had mouths to feed and the worker's compound was the only place they had to live.

She saw it on his face; he felt sorry for her, but there was nothing he could do. He only read the terms of renewal and suggested that she did not push for compensation as the sector’s governor might see it as civil disobedience, and everyone knew what happened to those who inconvenienced the Empire.

She had a week to gather at least 30,000 credits to relocate smoothly. The only way she knew she would make that much money in a short time was by winning the lottery or bringing in a big bounty. With her skill set, nabbing a big bounty was a more viable option. Besides, she couldn't afford a lottery ticket.

She blew the stray curl on her forehead off her face and ran a hand through her hair. 

“You've got this,” she repeated, squinting at the holographic projection of her target memorising his appearance.

"Okay Human, around my height, really ginger, scars on face, poncho wearing." She muttered.

He generally looked like a nice guy and judging by his profile, that was probably a trait he used to his advantage.

Switching the scanners on, she tuned them to scan for Latero coding; that would help her locate the unique vessel. Her ship, the Skalder, may have looked unassuming on the outside, but the computer had undergone extensive upgrading and modification.

He had helped her finish the modifications before he...

She rolled her shoulders feeling his jacket rest on her back. Now was not the time to get lost in the what-ifs of the past, she reminded herself.

What happened, happened and there is nothing she could do but focus on the present; she had people counting on her now.

The computer let out a long buzz. 

The scanner had detected an isolated Latero computer code in the moon’s South-east quadrant, away from any settlement.

“ _Miyn Ga bi’u_ ,” she smiled, inputting coordinates 16 clicks North of the Yacht’s landing site and engaging the Navi-computer.

* * *

"What do you reckon BD?" Cal asked his little friend clinging to his back. "We continue walking around, looking for the temple with a map that doesn't make sense, in the hot sun, or we return to the ship and try the scanners again?" 

"Beepbooo," the droid replied. 

"Nice to know you agree, and you're not even the one that's been walking most of the way," he wiped sweat from his forehead. 

It frustrated him to no end. The map that the Zeffo had left to a secluded temple, if it could be deciphered, could provide a good base for Saw's Partisans in the near future. The crew had kept coming back between missions trying new ways to read the map, but each time he found nothing. 

"How can I lose a whole temple BD?" He asked the droid. BD let out a series of beeps and boops in reply. "No," Cal laughed, "The map specifically listed it as above ground BD, but good thinking." He pulled out the holographic copy and stared at it and then scanned around his surroundings. Nothing looked familiar. He had been so certain he would find it today. He had felt the pull of the force directing him here.

“It’s not here, I’ve read the map wrong, again,” He sighed, “I was so sure BD, I felt it, I still feel it, there is something here I need to find.” 

He looked at the cliff faces that rose up from the sand in the distance. He went to shut the map when he noticed something; the turrets pictured on the map looked an awful lot like the rocky spires that rose out of the cliff. 

"Hang on?" He held the map up to the horizon and matched it against the cliffs rising up in the distance. 

“BD you’re a genius, it’s not underground, but it is not on the surface either, it’s built into the cliff face!”

He clicked his com open, “Cere, I found it!”

* * *

She pulled up her hood and slipped on her mask; a disguise for more than just her voice. 

Under her bunk, she opened the storage compartment and searched inside. Seizing her old sniper rifle, she slung it over her shoulder, reacquainting herself with the feeling of its weight resting against her back. Then, checking her pistol had recharged, she slipped it into a holster she strapped around her thigh. 

Her breaths came out heavier now, it had been a while since she had used these weapons. Having them on her person was making her squirm. 

Rummaging around for the rifle’s amo clip she uncovered a smooth grey box from its nest under a brown cloak.

Her eyes watered at the sight. She had not opened it in years. Her hands hesitated, hovering over the box’s lid. 

If all went to plan, she wouldn't even need it. She wouldn't get close enough, that's what the rifle was supposed to be for. She grabbed the amo clip and equipped it to her belt along with electronet pellets. Sighing, she went to shut the compartment, but the box called to her. With apprehension, she finally gave in and slid the lid off.

“Well they did say deadly,” she relented reaching in and grabbing the smaller of the two objects. Its cool metal and surprisingly heavy weight settled in her palm, providing a moment of comfort before she clipped it to the back of her belt under his jacket.

“Today is just one of those days, huh?” She remarked to the empty bunk across from her. Silence answered her. She sighed heavily and slumped her shoulders, “I promise I’ll only use it if I have to, they are depending on me you know? Besides, I've been practising my forms, I think you'd be impressed,” she reported to the empty space.

Sometimes it was just easier to picture him lying there reading a holobook, too engrossed in his reading to realise he was ignoring her.

Enough, she decided. It was time to go.

Grabbing her propboard from its dock near the door, she compacted it and stuck it to the magnetised plate at her back. 

“Mind the ship till I'm back!” She half-heartedly called behind her as she trudged down the ramp and clicked the remote on her wrist to seal it.

“Right,” she scanned her surroundings, “Time to catch a bad guy.”

* * *

“Cere, I found it!” Cal repeated. Static buzzing replied, “Cere come in, Cere?” 

“Here Cal, sorry, coms were down,” her voice answered him in an apologetic tone.

“I found it, I am going to check it out,” He exclaimed as his steps became lighter and faster, heading towards the place he had been searching for what seemed like months.

“That’s great Cal,” his friend responded but he sensed a darker, worried tone in her voice.

“Something wrong?” He asked.

“I don’t know...” Cere began.

“Someone was probing the Mantis,” Greez harrumphed down the com, “It upset her, her sensors and Navi-computer went crazy, and I only just managed to shut off the screaming klaxons, and Merrin just stopped complaining about the Klaxons.” 

“Imperial?” Cal asked with concern. 

“No,” Cere responded, “We can’t determine the cause, but it whatever it was, it wasn’t Imperial, just be careful Cal, I’ve got a bad feeling.” 

“Okay, Cere, just cause you're worried, I’m transmitting my coordinates to you now,” He reassured her. 

* * *

_“Okay, Cere, just cause you're worried, I’m transmitting my coordinates to you now.”_

_“Coordinates received, keep an eye out, Cal.”_

_“I will Cere.”_

Their coms went silent and there was a beep as a set of coordinates near her appeared on her holodisk. 

“Gotcha,” She smirked. Causing interference in other systems while tapping into the coms undetected was an old tactic, but it was still effective.

She reached behind her and threw her propboard on the ground. It expanded and engaged its boosters. She stepped up onto it and her boots magnetised. The board emitted a buzz and an annoying mechanical voice began to speak.

“Warning this board’s integrity has been compromised, Verkyulian Bacta Corporate recommends that this board be only used for agricultural purposes, modification of this board will void the responsibility of Verkyulian-”

“- I know,” she ignored it and leant forward engaging the boosters, speeding along almost silently across the desert. 

* * *

He reached the base of the cliff and he helped BD hop off his back and squatted down to his level. 

“Don’t wander too far BD, don’t want to lose you,” he called after the droid as it excitedly bounced up and down around the base of the cliff. "Any ideas on how to get inside?”

“Bobeep,” the droid shook his body side to side. 

“Nope? Me either,” he admitted. He could see a cave-like opening about 20 meters up the cliff. He could climb, but he didn’t like his odds gripping the sand conglomerate. It was fragile, any grip he could get could crumble and he would fall. “We might try and see if there’s an entrance around the base before we call the ship and try the top,” he informed the droid.

BD ran along the bottom scanning for an entrance. Cal chuckled, “It’s not a race, slow down, you might miss something,” he called as he began to stand up. 

Ironically, it was not BD that had missed something, but Cal.

Cal had missed the figure on top of the cliff currently aiming a sniper rifle at him.

* * *

She looked down the scope as she lay flat on her stomach at the top of the cliff. 

One shot and it would be over quickly.

One shot and all her problems disappeared.

Looking down the scope she saw him help the little droid off his back and squat down. The moment he stood up his head would be in the crosshairs.

Breathing in and out, she tried to calm herself.

She hadn’t taken a life since the end of the war, well the Purge. To her the war never ended, she just found herself on a different side, hiding from what used to be allies. 

She watched as her target talked to the droid as it bounced up and down with excitement. Her finger hovered over the trigger.

Something twinged in her stomach.

Watching the way he smiled at the little droid and talked fondly to it, shook her resolve. It was the Empire that had issued the bounty, it was possible that he could be someone like her, someone who just happened to be in the way of the Empire.

In her experience, how people treated droids said a lot about their personality.

He didn’t seem like a murderer or a thief, but then again, not many of them ever did.

She shook her head and refocused looking down the scope. She needed to do this. 

He began to stand. This was it.

Her finger touched the trigger and she braced for the rifle to kick back against her shoulder. His head entered the crosshairs. Sweat beaded on her forehead. Her hands started shaking. It was time to take the shot. 

She breathed in and out.

Time to take the shot, her mind whispered. She breathed In and out.

In and out.

In. Take the shot.

Out. Come on.

In. Take the shot!

TAKE THE SHOT!

She breathed out once more in a long sigh. 

This felt wrong, she concluded as she lowered the rifle and banged her forehead against it in frustration.

“Blast it.” She cursed.

She seemed to have decided not to kill him, but she still needed that bounty. It _did_ say dead _or_ alive. Unloading the bolts from the rifle she reached around her back for the electronet pellets. She stood up and began looking for a route down the cliff.

If she was to net him, she’d have to get closer.

* * *

“Trust the force,” he reminded himself as he reached out and touched the base of the cliff. The Echo was faint, very faint. No one had been here for centuries, but he still felt it. 

_“Not much further, my padawan,”_ A female’s voice echoed through his mind.

 _“Master, how do we get up there? I see no way in,”_ a young male voice queried. 

_“It’s about perspective young one, nothing is ever simple on the journey, yet after, you have reached your destination, the way is clear.”_

“Perspective?” Cal questioned out loud as he opened his eyes.

He stood still and tilted his head to the left, then back, then forward, then to the right. Nothing stood out to him.

He ran a few meters back and looked up. Nothing. He ran right up to the cliff wall and pressed his body against it and looked up.

“Beeeop bep boopep?” BD asked him.

“What am I doing?" He repeated the droid's question, "Well BD, I’m getting a different perspective,” he smiled. It was working. 

Looking straight up, he could see that there was a slight indent in the cliff and then an overhang above it, that pattern continued up the cliff. The was a path carved into the cliff face. From below or afar, it would look like a flat surface. But from above or right up against the cliff one could see it.

“Come on BD,” Cal gestured to his back and the droid jumped on his perch. 

He found the start of the path behind a large rock and began to jog up.

“This place would be perfect for Saw, you know, when they need a bigger base, in the Mid Rim,” he chatted to BD. The droid whistled in agreement. 

He reached out in the force, feeling for any Echoes that could tell him more about this ancient place. He felt some, but they were all murky, too old to see clearly. 

“What happened here BD, why did they leave?” He asked rhetorically. 

Although the place was old, he still felt the force strongly here. It was always interesting to him how even some planets seemed to have the force residing in them. 

About halfway up, he reached the cave-like entrance he had spotted from the ground. As he walked towards it, he felt his chest suddenly constrict. He sensed something; new echoes in the force. 

He sensed: guilt, pity, and most prominently, desperation.

Cal furrowed his brow. He couldn’t pinpoint the object or exact spot the feelings were emanating from, but he felt the general direction was the path that continued up the cliff.

“BD, you alright buddy?” The droid responded in a low beep, “Good, stay close to me, something isn't right,” he said as his hand went to his side and hovered above his lightsaber.

He stepped cautiously as he came up to a corner in the path. Pressing his back against the jutting rock he peered around the corner carefully.

Nothing.

He frowned harder. 

“Hello Cal Kestis,” an electronically masked voice called behind him from the dark entrance of the temple.

Grabbing his lightsaber, he ignited it as he turned around, aiming at the source of the voice, but he never found his target. 

He gasped out in pain as a burning sensation hit him in the shoulder as he turned. It arced out across his arms, then around his chest, then his legs. On his back, BD-1 screamed as his circuits surged and he shut down. Cal cried out in agony as he crumpled to his knees and slumped over onto his side. He began to feel himself losing consciousness.

As his eyes drooped closed he observed two things.

One; he had been caught in an electronet.

And two; a masked person was leaning over him saying something while frantically cutting the net off him, shaking him, trying to keep him awake.

'Huh. Weird.' Was the only cognitive thought his brain produced before he closed his eyes.

* * *


	2. Don't count your monkeylizards before they hatch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After realising her target was a Jedi, the bounty hunter wants nothing to do with him. Unfortunately, it's a bit hard to get him out of her hands as two Imperial ships show up on her scanners.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: violence, burns and mentions of torture.

* * *

“Ah poodoo.” Was all she managed to articulate as she watched the lightsaber roll from his hand. Thank the Force she'd decided not to kill him. She didn’t know if she could live with herself if she had been responsible for another Jedi's death.

“I’m an idiot,” she took a step towards him. 

How did she not see that coming? 

Treason? Enemy of the Empire? Anarchy?

With charges like that he had to be a Jedi. Who else would have a bounty that high and consider armed and deadly, not dangerous, deadly, tag attached to their name? 

“I’m so sorry, are you okay mate? Can you hear me? Blink three times if you can hear me?” She asked.

He moaned and slumped in the dirt. He was definitely not okay. His droid looked in bad shape too. 

What setting were these nets at? Wookie? 

Now what?

What was she supposed to do?

She knew what would happen to him if she turned him in. As much as she needed the money, she knew if she turned him in she'd live the rest of her days in shame.

But how was she supposed to get her money now in only four days? 

What was she going to do with him?

She guessed she could just leave him there, put a note on him saying she was sorry, his crew would find him eventually, they did have his coordinates after all.

A high pitched annoying trilling from her holodisk made up her mind for her. Two Imperial ships had entered the sector.

Two Imperial Fighter class ships. 

“Blasted gundark dung!” She swore as she pulled out a small vibro blade and began to cut the net off of them. “Hey, Kestis? Kestis? Stay with me mate, I’m gonna need your help, Kestis?” She shook his shoulders and looked into his eyes. “Please, we're going to be in a whole lot of trouble if we don’t move now,” she implored. His eyes focused on her briefly before they rolled back into his head and closed. “Blast it!” She cursed. 

There was another beeping noise as Cal’s com sounded. 

“Cal two ships have entered your area-” a woman she had heard be called Cere began.

“-Not Cal, but I know, please tell me they aren’t what I think they are?” She cut the woman off.

“Who are you?! What have you done with Cal!?” Cere sounded enraged. 

“Cal... he can't really answer the com right now...he’s a bit incapacitated, which was a bit of an accident, but not important right now,” she stammered, “Any chance those ships are a routine patrol?” She asked hopefully as she dragged Cal out of the net and hoisted him onto the cargo sling on her propboard.

“One ship is a troop carrier, the other is a tie fighter, single pilot. I would say that you may be dealing with more than a patrol. I don't know how much you understand and I don’t know what you’re doing there, but you need to get yourself and Cal out of there, now! You're in a lot of danger. We will come to your location and pick you up-”

“-I understand plenty, we don't have the time, if we stay here their scanners will pick us up quicker,” she cut Cere off. “We have to move now, my ship’s closer, about 5 and a half clicks from here, we've got a better chance of survival if you leave now and engage them as a distraction while we get to my ship," she picked up his lightsaber and clipped it back on his belt, "If we wait while you try to reach us here, we'll be sitting pufgufs.” She scooped up the little droid and attached him to the magnetic plate on her back. There was a bit of commotion on the coms as she heard multiple questions at once. The only one she heard coherently was 'what's a pufguff?'

“I'll meet up with you and drop Kestis off at an off-world location,” she ignored their questions and proposed a plan to get the Jedi off her hands.

“Like hell! You must think we’re crazy! We don’t even know you! You think we’d trust you to give him back!” An angry voice, Greez, she presumed, raged over the com.

“No I wouldn’t trust me either, but you don’t have a choice,” she pointed out and climbed up on her board, starting the boosters. With the cargo sling activated, the propboard would be slower, but it would still get them a fair way back to the Skalder before the Imperials pinpointed their location. She just hoped it would be enough.

“That's not reassuring!” Greez complained

“If you don’t hold to your word, or you hurt him, I will not rest until I have dismembered you,” a feminine voice growled down the com line. Probably Merrin? The person Greez had mentioned earlier.

“Trust me, the last thing I want is an Inquisitor following me to the ends of the galaxy, my life is hard enough as is. You can have him back, but I presume you want him alive, so that's just what I'm trying to do," she reassured them matter of factly. 

"You know about the Inquisitorius? how do you-"

"-Gotta go Cere," she shut the com off.

* * *

The wind blew her hood off as they sped along the desert. They were making good ground, but she knew they were not going fast enough when she heard that hair raising sound.

The screaming of tie fighters clawed at ears. Her heart stopped in her chest. She braved a glance behind her. 

“Poodoo.” She uttered. They'd found them. She looked ahead and saw her ship in the distance, but she knew without losing them, they would not make it. She leant down and fastened the cargo restraints on the sling across the Jedi’s chest. 

"Hold on Kestis, hope you don't get motion sickness." 

As soon as the ships were in range they opened fire on them. She took evasive manoeuvres, suddenly backflipping the board around and zig-zagging her way towards the fighters. The fighters flew overhead unable to turn quickly enough to keep on their tail. Flipping again to head for the Skalder, she watched as the fighters circled around and split up.

The single tie fighter stayed its course flying toward them, raining down bolts. The propboard was narrow enough to fly in between the gun's two firing lines, but she had to concentrate immensely on keeping in the tie fighter's weak spot. The noise was deafening but she wasn’t too worried about her eardrums right now; she was worried about the troop carrier that was making a beeline for her ship, cutting off their escape. 

It opened fire. 

"No!" She screamed. 

Without its shields, the Skalder would have been blown to bits if it weren’t for another ship appearing and engaging the troop carrier at the last second. The Stinger Mantis.

"Cutting it fine, but thank you," she sighed in relief watching the Mantis drive back the troop carrier. 

She focused back on the tie fighter that seemed to have given up firing on them and flew over their heads and circled back.It was now behind them and swooping towards them, in a rapidly descending flight path, dangerously low to the ground.

"Well, that's new!" She panicked.

The pilot seemed to have decided collision was the best course of action. 

She had to hand it to whomever it was; they were determined. 

In fact, it was very logical. Though it would wreck their ship, they could survive. Cal and herself, however, would be smooshed into the ground. She couldn't outrun a ship with a propboard even without Cal, but looking behind her she could see they still had a bit of leeway. 

She swerved erratically, yet the pilot mirrored her every move. Now she had no doubt that this was an Inquisitor. They were going slow purposely, full well knowing that they would crush Cal and herself before they reached the safety of her ship. 

The Jedi hunter was toying with its prey.

As a last-ditch effort, she swivelled her body around, hopelessly pulled out her pistol and began firing at the junction where the left-wing joined to the cockpit. It did nothing.

She aimed at the cockpit, firing at the transparasteel. That didn't do much, but it did seem to obscure the pilot's vision briefly as they seemed to mirror her moves with a noticeable delay. 

She had heard the Darkside was powerful, but she had been told that they tended to focus more on their emotions and passions, not their surroundings. 

This Inquisitor seemed arrogant and self-assured. They were too enrapt in toying with them. They didn’t even seem to be putting too much effort into sensing her whereabouts. She hoped that her observations were right, cause her newly formulated plan depended on it. 

She slowed her pace, letting the fighter close in. As it sped towards them she slung her rifle off her shoulder knowing she still had two eletronet pellets loaded. 

When the fighter was around 50 meters from her she stopped the board, turned and quickly fired both nets at the cockpit and let her rifle fall to the ground. 

As the bright light from the electricity exploded against the viewport, she quickly turned back around speeding towards the fighter, veering to the right. 

She reached behind her back. 

The tie fighter, now only meters away, was unable to correct its course to collide into them. 

She unclipped the weapon, braced herself and ignitied it at the last second. 

As the tie fighter passed by, missing them by an arm's length, the bright emerald green blade passed through the lower half of the wing, cutting it clean off. 

The fighter, now unstabilised, careened in a very short spiral into the ground, tumbling over itself and spraying sand everywhere as its engines sputtered. 

"Time to go," she asserted, deactivating the lightsaber and engaging her board’s boosters at full power and set it to return to its dock.

* * *

“Nearly there,” she told herself as she clicked the remote to open the ramp. Above them, the dog fight between the Mantis and the troop carrier continued. She turned on Cal's com and she slowed down her board nearing the ramp of her ship.

"We made it Cere, thanks for the assist, once we get out of orbit I'll-" she stopped mid-sentence as her body froze in place and her arms pinned to her sides. She knew exactly what the icy cold constricting the feeling was.

It was a force grip, but not as she had felt it before. This was from a user of the Darkside.

"Hello? uh-miss? Miss, please respond," Cere's voice was laced with concern, and rightly so.

The propboard underneath her whined as it was held back. She was in danger, but not as much as Cal was. She struggled enough in the grip to wiggle her wrist remote against her thigh, hitting the button to de-magnetize her boots. 

The propboard's boosters stopped their high pitched whining and shot forward caring itself and Cal into the ship. 

She was left floating in place above the sand uselessly flailing against an invisible grip on her body.

"Well this is unexpected," a disguised raspy voice mused. Its owner casually strode out of the cloud of dust. 

As he stalked towards her with his hand outstretched, a tattered dark grey cloak dragged behind him. To her, he looked and sounded male. His build was humanoid and tall. His black uniform with the Imperial insignia on his dark brown chest plate left no doubt that this figure had somehow been ripped out of her nightmares. 

His head was covered with a dark chrome helmet that flared out at the back and sides of his head to protect his neck. The most terrifying feature of the helmet, however, was the faceplate. It had no visible mouth or nose pieces just two glowing red lenses where his eyes would be.

She started to shake as he stood in front of her.

This was it. She supposed she had a good run. 

She hoped that if Cal woke up he'd have the sense to take her ship and get off this rock.

"I get two Jedi in one day, and one has already done half the job for me," he rasped.

She had to smirk at that.

"Don’t count your monkeylizards before they hatch sleemo!" She spat. Perhaps if she angered him enough he'd kill her sooner, and she would protect her secret. 

He chuckled darkly. With a flick of his wrist, he sent her flying into the sand. "A Cortosis miners jacket, if I am correct… what made you crawl out of your hole, little moleworm?"

She groaned shaking her head to get the dust out of her mask. The Inquisitor cocked his head to the side and circled her, unclipping his modified lightsaber. 

She got to her feet and reached behind her back unclipping the weapon there, knowing deep down, she wouldn't win this fight.

"Come on little moleworm…I know you are weak and out of practice, when was the last time you reached within? I can barely sense anything in you,” He ignited his red blade twirling around intimidatingly, “Come on, defend yourself, make it interesting," he taunted raising the blade up to bring it down on her head. 

This move, she had learned to counter. 

Gripping the handle backwards, she ignited it and drew it across herself and up above her head, blocking his swipe. Her significantly shorter blade met and deflected his with ease.

Although she kept her head, she, unfortunately, left herself open for his boot to plant itself heavily in her stomach. She gasped and stumbled back clasping her belly with her free hand.

"Oh what a treat! Reversed Shien style with a Shoto, what happened to your other saber, moleworm? Did you lose it along with your master?" He took another series of swipes almost lazily.

She fought for her life, blocking, countering and stumbling backwards as her breaths grew shallow and short. 

“You talk too much,” she growled. 

"Not many Jedi use that technique, I only know of three Jedi who use, sorry... used, that technique, who taught you? I know they’re all dead. I killed the last one on Dinzo a few years ago."

She tensed. He tilted his head, sensing he found a sore spot.

"Liar," she spat, grounding herself in her stance, she knew the that Inquisitior that found them couldnt have been him, they had been female. "No Jedi was killed on Dinzo," She gritted, more to herself than him. She never wanted to believe that he had died there. He could have gotten away for that place.

She never saw a body; there was still hope. 

"I suppose thats true-" the Inquisitor shrugged, "-he died screaming in a torture cell on Nur, with only me for company. Friend of yours moleworm?"

She could hear the smirk in his voice. 

'No, that can't be true, it just can't be,' ran through her head on a loop as her heart broke. 

Behind her mask, tears welled up in her eyes.

But as much as she wished it wasn’t, she knew that what the monster said was true, she knew he was dead. She had been foolish to hold onto the hope that he was still alive after all this time. This monster had tortured him until he died. And this... this Thing, in front of her was proud of it?

And with that thought, her heartbreak was replaced by absolute hatred.

"I'll kill you!" She screamed and charged at him. 

All logic left her. She swung the short saber erratically, switching to the traditional grip to attack. He dodged her attacks with ease.

"You can join him if you'd like, I can arrange that same nice little room for you and your new friend," he cruelly suggested nodding past her to her ship where Cal was still lying unconscious. 

Her blood boiled.

"Over my dead body!" She snarled and landed a kick to his knee. It threw him off balance and she used the opening to land a blow on across the plate on his chest. 

The Lightsaber shorted out and retracted back into itself becoming momentarily useless. With disbelief, she stared at where she landed her blow.

Nothing had happened. There was not a scratch, nothing. Her eyes widened in shock. A full strike from a Lightsaber did nothing. 

Inwardly she kicked herself as she realized plate was made of Cortosis and she, of all people, should have realised that sooner. 

"Oh I hoped you'd say something like that," he chuckled. He reached with the force and grabbed a hold of her by the throat, lifting her off the ground as she squirmed. 

The overload slowly wearing off, she re-ignited the now slightly dimmer and stuttering blade to try and defend herself as he drew her closer. The Inquisitor knocked it out of her hand with a disarming swipe with his own blade.

"I sense it now," he brought his lightsaber up and held it at her shoulder, ever so slowly pressing it into her.

She let out a strangled cry as her skin bubbled and the smell of her own flesh burning filled her nostrils. "You are nothing, just a girl with a lightsaber and a delusion," he observed, "You aren't-" 

He never finished. 

Two streams of bolts fired upon them from above as the Mantis reappeared. 

As soon as he lost his grip, she hit the ground.

Rolling to the side she grabbed the fallen lightsaber and scrambled across the sand for her ship. 

The Inquisitor ignited his second blade now and began to spin them rapidly, shielding himself from the Stinger Mantis' fire. 

She made it to the ramp and slammed her hand on the close button. Through the slowly closing gap, she could see the Inquisitor trudging slowly towards her ship concentrating heavily on deflecting the Mantis' attack. 

Tears were welling in her eyes as her shoulder screamed at her. Ignoring the pain and the red dribble slowly staining her tunic and jacket, she climbed up into the cockpit and frantically started the engines. 

“This isn’t over girl, I’ll find you no matter where you go! You and everyone around you will never be safe! Nothing will st-” The ramp shut and cut off the end of his threat. 

She hit the thrusters and retracted the landing gear. Increasing the throttle with a grunt of protest from her arm, she finally got them into the atmosphere. She let herself slump into the pilot's chair only to jump back up as something uncomfortable pressed into her upper back.  
“Oh! Sorry,” she apologised and unstuck the powered down droid from her back. 

She laid him on the console and examined him. His optical processor was damaged and his circuitry had overloaded. Poor thing, she thought. “I'll fix you soon, just hang in there little fella,” she promised.

"This is the Stinger Mantis, Miss, do you read me?" Cal’s Com crackled distantly behind her, she set a course for the edge of an asteroid field and redirected Cal’s com to her ship to ship communication panel on the console.

"Stringer Mantis… this is Skalder... I read you," she winced out, reaching over head and engaging the autopilot.

"Are you okay?" Cere asked. 

"Thanks to you, I’m alive and lucky to be, just a little shaken and kinda grazed, but I'll get it looked at back home.” She tried to reassure the woman over the coms she was fine. “I’m currently transmitting on my ship’s frequency, you should switch to it before Kestis’ com is out of range, I’m going to send you my current course heading, so we can stay in touch.”

“Hang on did you say grazed? Grazed by a lightsaber?” Greez commented over the comms, “Kid are you okay?” 

“Are you ready to receive?” She ignored the Mantis’ pilot’s question. 

There was a moment’s silence before Cere replied, “Ready.” 

She input her coordinates and course heading and pressed transmit. Cal’s com fell silent and her console beeped. She answered the transmission and got a holographic image of Cere’s human face to appear on her console “I didn’t properly introduce myself, I’m Cere Junda, this is my pilot Greez Dritus -,” a Lateron waved three of his four hands at the holo-transmission, “- And this is Merrin-,”

“Where is Cal?” A young woman with dark lines tattooed on her face demanded. 

Standing up with a pained grunt, she transferred the projector to her holodisk taking it with her as she dropped down the ladder and walked to the back of the ship. 

“He’s here, and he’s fine, he’ll come round within a few hours,” she showed them the red-headed Jedi sprawled on the cargo sling. “I’m going to put him on a bunk, don’t worry,” she told them as she placed the holodisk on her bunk and undid the cargo restraints. Dragging the Jedi off the sling and onto the bunk across from her, she winced as pain reminded her that her shoulder and arm were not working properly. 

“You should really get that looked at... miss uh?” Cere prompted.

“Oh sorry,” she took off her mask and revealed her face to them, “It’s Acko, my name is Lytei Acko.” She placed her mask down on the bunk, “And don’t worry about me, I know a good doctor who answers calls at the strangest hours, I’ll be patched up and shiny as Chromium before we rendezvous,” she smiled weakly at them, “How does Takodana sound?”

* * *

  
  



	3. Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Lytei travels to Takodana, Cal is confronted by the echo's that her ship holds. What does the Bounty hunter want? is it something nefarious or is this whole thing just a big misunderstanding. Meanwhile, a certain Inquisitor is fuming and he is not willing to let his prey get away from him.

* * *

Cal didn’t know where he was, but he got the feeling it wasn’t the present. 

The planet was rocky and desolate, some kind of post volcanic wasteland as far as he could tell. Though, he didn’t get much of a look at it as he was yanked backwards roughly when a ship's landing ramp closed. 

He turned to orientate himself and was buffered by a surge of various emotions. 

He staggered. This place had many memories attached to it. 

Looking around the ship he identified it as some kind of Courier, probably a smaller Seltaya-class. Cal had scrapped enough of them in recent years to know that they had all the hallmarks of a fast ship. They were common, required only a single pilot and were slowly becoming obsolete as Corellian models were becoming more popular.

The ship was poorly lit, the only source of light was coming from a large viewport in the forward hull. A short corridor stretched down the centre of the ship opening up into a small sunken lounge in front of the viewport. Ahead of him, there were 3 doors on either side of the ship’s living space that must have led to other compartments, like the fresher and the galley. Either side of the entrance, where he stood, there was a set of bunks. Walking forward to look out the window his eyes spied a ladder on the wall off to the right. The ship must have had a canopy cockpit. 

“Who’s flying this thing?” He questioned rhetorically and began to climb it. Poking his head up into the cockpit he saw the only source of light was from the ship’s dashboard blinking softly. Eerily, there was no sign of the pilot. The ship was drifting in empty space not even on autopilot. Examining the gunners bay and the four chairs behind the pilot’s, he saw no one. 

As he wondered what the force was trying to show him, his chest became heavy, and his limbs felt weak and numb. 

One emotion attacked him from every direction; Grief.

So much grief.

It surrounded him to the point where it felt as if the whole ship was just made of tears. He furrowed his brow and opened his eyes not even realizing he had closed them in his attempt to block it out.

Then he heard the sobbing. 

His ears pricked up. 

It was coming from below him, in the living space of the ship. The gasps for air between the tears and cries were small and quiet, but he heard them as if they were shouts in his ears.

He slid down the rungs of the ladder into the living space. It was just as dark as before, but now, it was not deserted. 

Cal winced with every sob that reached his ears.

He had to make it stop, it was painful too hear. 

Stopping and listening in the middle of the room, he identified that the sniffling was coming from one of the bunks. 

He crept towards it. 

“Hello?” He called out, but there was no response.

In the darkness he could make out a small body curled up on the bottom left bunk, their shoulders were quivering with each sob that wracked their body. They were facing the wall of the ship with their back to him. 

He warily approached them. Getting closer, he could see that it was a girl, a human with short curly brown hair with grey ends. He guessed she was in her midteens.

She had a dark grey jacket a few sizes too big wrapped around her shoulders and she was clinging to something she had tightly pressed against her chest.

“Hey, are you alright?” He questioned again reaching out and grabbing her shoulder. 

Cal felt his body jerk suddenly and the world blurred around him. 

His eyes opened again and he saw the wall of the ship in front of him.

Feeling the emotions with more lucidity now, he realised he was now laying in the fetal position.

Cal was looking through the girl’s eyes.

She was feeling many things, grief being the main emotion on the surface, but a little deeper he found fear, anger, despair and uncertainty. 

‘What am I going to do?’ Was the thought that kept blowing around and around like a leaf in a storm within her head, and subsequently, his too. 

She was so lost. She didn’t know what to do. She was so alone. She missed her loved ones, her home. She missed…

“Reed...” her voice cracked when she said the name. 

She glanced down at the thing she had clutched to her chest possessively. 

Cal identified the familiar metal object immediately; it was a lightsaber.

It was smaller than average, but definitely still a saber.

“What am I supposed to do now Reed… why did you have to leave me?” The girl whimpered while staring at the weapon.

There was a shrill cry from something nearby. The girl shifted on the bunk and lifted her head. The crying continued. As the girl slowly got up, Cal felt the aches and bruises as if they were his own. 

“Shhh,” She shushed the screaming bundle laying on the bunk across from her. 

‘A baby?’ He thought to himself as the puzzle he didn’t even know he was trying to solve became more complex.

He could sense that the child was hungry and frightened, but the girl couldn’t, she didn’t know what was wrong.

She groaned with exhaustion as she leant over the bunk and carefully scooped up the bundle that lay there. With one hand the girl flicked the light switch on and he finally saw the baby clearly as the girl's eyes examined the child with concern. 

In the light, he noted the baby’s bright red skin, tiny montrals and head tails that had the beginnings of dark stripes forming on them. 

A baby Togruta, not a newborn, but he guessed perhaps only or a little under a year old.

He sensed an overwhelming sense of duty from the girl as she made hushed noises trying to calm the baby. Yet at the same time, he sensed her conflicting feelings of utter inadequacy. 

“Shh, shh,” she experimentally rocked the baby. “I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but I promise you it’ll be alright, we’re going to be okay,” the girl lied through her teeth. “Please stop crying, please,” the girl pleaded as she walked around the ship pacing back and forth trying to figure out what was wrong. She stopped in front of the viewport and looked out at the stars and planets in the distance, “He’s out there somewhere, I know he got away, he’ll come back to us.”

Cal could not tell if she was talking to herself or the child, but whoever it was, she was lying again. 

“We were going to decide a name for you together,” she sniffled forcing a smile as she raised a finger to stroke the child's small red face. They stopped crying and latched their tiny little fingers around her one index finger, trying to bring it to their mouth. “You’re hungry aren't you?” she guessed. “Don’t worry... _You_ , I’m going to look after you. It might be a while before he’s back, and I can’t just call you You, can I?” She choked out, trying so hard to keep a brave face, holding back tears. “I’m going to call you Neri, Reed would like that name,” she smiled sadly at the baby. “One day I’ll tell you about her, she was very brave,” she explained to the newly named child while absently staring at her own reflection. 

For a split second Cal saw a pale, freckle sprinkled, oval face with sad brown eyes, tired and red from crying. Then it was gone. Before him, the face morphed into a familiar white mask, decorated with dark blue lines, painting an unsmiling expression. He met the stare of the glowing yellow lenses. 

“And I will do anything to protect you, Neri, I promise you that,” vowed the same electronically disguised voice he had heard before he lost consciousness. 

The Bounty Hunter.

With a gasp, his eyes shot open and he found himself back on the bunk near the ship’s ramp, only this time he was back in his own body, and in the present. 

* * *

  
  


“Sir, Are you injured?” The captain of his unit of purge troopers asked him as he glared at the spot where the two ships left the atmosphere moments ago. 

“No.” He growled angrily wishing he was. Failing to a moleworm like her was an embarrassment. He started stalking towards the troop carrier that had landed behind him moments ago. 

He had underestimated her and he had underestimated Kestis’ allies, a mistake he would not allow to happen again. 

“Sir, the Grand Inquisitor is requesting a report on your-ack- '' the Captain choked on the rest of his sentence as he squeezed the trooper’s airway in a force grip. 

“Tell him I’ll report to him when I have news worth reporting,” He snarled at the captain. The captain weakly pointed behind him and the young inquisitor's shoulders slumped as he heard the voice of his superior.

“I’ll decide what news is worth reporting thank you very much, Third Brother,” he turned to look at the holographic image another trooper was holding. “Now, put the captain down, good clones like him are hard to come by these days.” With an angry grunt, the Third Brother dropped the Captain on the ground, ignoring his wheezes and coughs. “Tell me, did you manage to kill or, even more impressive, capture Kestis?” 

“No,” he seethed, “He had help.” 

“Help?” the Grand Inquisitor mocked the younger inquistitor. “Tell me, what kind of ‘help’, bested you, the coward Cere Jundra? The pathetic Lateron’s laser cannons or was it perhaps the Nightsister’s Magicks that caused you to fail?” 

The Third Brother clenched his fist in frustration for a moment, then, uncharacteristically, he let it go. This type of frustration was unproductive. He hung his head deciding to take responsibility for his failure. 

“It was my own arrogance and complacency, I was unprepared, there was another, a lightsaber wielder, a girl. I underestimated her, a mistake I will not make again.”

The Inquisitor's unnatural yellow eyes widened with something akin to glee, “I appreciate your Candor and self-reflection Third Brother, you always were a fast learner, what can you tell me about this girl?”

“She used a shoto with reversed shien form, but she was very inexperienced, I injured her, but Kestis’ ship interfered before I could finish her off, she managed to take off in her ship with Kestis on board, ” the Third Brother detailed. 

“Did you identify her?” The Grand Inquisitor pressed. 

“No, She wore a mask, ” He shook his head, “But she wore a Cortosis miner’s jacket and had some association with the Padawan, Reed Tepli, she became enraged when I mentioned his demise.”

“Reversed shien and a connection to Padawan Tepli,” The Grand Inquisitor looked deep in thought, “Perhaps a student of Neri Ryo then?” He deduced. 

“No,” The Third Brother shook his head slowly. “Master Ryo’s only student unaccounted for during the purge was Tepli, and now he and all Ryo’s previous students are dead, all other reversed shien wielders are dead, I am at a loss as to who has trained her, but we should not worry about her ab-”

“Sir, I believe I have found-” Both the inquisitors turned to glare at the purge trooper that was now slowly backing away from them.

A wise choice. 

“Trooper, tell us what was so important that you would interrupt us?” the Grand Inquisitor questioned the clone with a dangerous glare. The Third Brother could sense the fear wafting off the trooper that was trying to control all muscles in his body to not show weakness.

“I found this near the tie fighter crash sight, sir,” the trooper presented the Third Brother with the rifle the girl had used. 

“You interrupted us for… this-'' the Grand Inquisitor gestured to the rifle as the Third Brother looked it over, examining the ornate carvings of a crest in the expensive Laroon wood butt of the rifle. 

Under his helmet, he frowned deeply as he realised what type of weapon this was.

It was a Nulnovaian Royal Guard’s rifle, retro-fitted with a standard Republic Clone army sniper scope. 

No. 

It was not possible. 

Yet, it could only be her. 

He shook this disturbing discovery from his mind when he heard the Grand Inquisitor begin a rant that usually resulted in the termination of the unlucky soul who received it, “- I hope in future, soldier, we will not be interrupted by such trivial-”

“- I have identified the girl Grand Inquisitor,” the Third Brother announced and turned to the trooper, handing back the rifle, “I thank you, soldier, for your diligence, you may go for now, however, I will reprimand you on your manners later,” the Third Brother finished darkly. The trooper scurried off as fast as his legs could carry him.

“Something you care to share Third Brother?” the Grand Inquisitor inquired with an irritated tone, getting tired of being interrupted.

“That rifle was used by an individual the Second Sister reported in our records as deceased, that will have to be rectified,” He growled.

The Inquisitor sighed deeply in disappointment at the mention of the traitor, “You will send me a report detailing your knowledge and I will assign the case to the fou-”

“No!” He protested. He was insulted. The Grand Inquisitor thought he was weak. He would prove him wrong. “Kestis and the Girl are mine! I will make sure the Second Sister’s sloppy work is tidied up,” he paused realizing he was being insubordinate. 

Cautiously he studied the Grand Inquisitor's face; it was smirking.

“Your emotions are strong and your desire to prove yourself is stronger, I sense much hatred within you, that is good, you will need it to drive you, because if you fail… well, I need not remind you of the consequences,” his superior warned, “Now, does this girl have a name?” The Grand Inquisitor asked curiously. 

“Not one the records will recognise, she will be using an alias…” The Third Brother detailed, “But, I do know her true identity and where to start, I will need some files sent to my personal datapad.”

“Tell me and I will arrange it,” the older Inquisitor instructed.

“I will need all the files on the Nulnovian conflict from the Clone Wars, as well as our records of the Jedi Neri Ryo,” he listed. 

The Grand Inquisitor tilted his head with interest, “Is there anything else you need?”

“I will also need the recorded audiovisual file of the Second Sister’s interrogation of padawan Reed Tepli,” he requested emotionlessly. 

The Grand Inquisitor chuckled, “Need some entertainment Third Brother?” 

“No, but this girl was once a companion of Tepli’s,” he explained with determination, “It is possible that he may have revealed information concerning her whereabouts without us realising the context.” He paused smiling wickedly at a thought that occurred to him, “And using any information from that pathetic padawan to finally destroy everything he ever stood for makes it all the more satisfying.”

* * *

For a moment, Cal laid perfectly still and shut his eyes again, pretending to be unconscious. He focused his senses. He was laying on the bunk that the girl had been weeping on in the past. 

This bunk had been what triggered his psychometry, he concluded. He also deduced that his captor, the bounty hunter, was once the crying girl.

Sensing that no one was in the living space, he sat up on the bed and started looking around for anything that could help him escape her. The search was over quickly when he felt his lightsaber knock against his hip; it was still attached to his belt.

This meant either the bounty hunter was stupid and forgotten to take it off him or… something else?

He wasn’t quite sure what it meant if she had left it with him on purpose. He was sure that she knew what a lightsaber was, she had one.

Making a move to get up he found his limbs were heavy and numb. Pins and needles shot up his leg when he pulled himself to stand. Leaning against the wall for support while he waited for his legs to stop aching, he listened carefully to what was happening in the cockpit above him. 

“Miss Acko, I must ask you to disrobe-” a calm electronically distorted voice implored.

“Take me to dinner first Bolton, besides kinda busy, you know, flying a ship at the moment,” a familiar voice quipped back sarcastically. The bounty hunter, or as he now knew her, ‘Miss Acko,' sounded very different to how she did when she had been wearing that mask. He glanced at the bunk across the room to see the painted mask laying face up on the pillow. The bounty hunter had an accent that was interesting, one he couldn’t say he’d heard before, but it was very distinctive. No wonder she wore a voice disguiser.

He tilted his head listening to the conversation continue.

“Miss Acko, for your own health, disrobe your torso now and let me inspect the wound, and your excuse will not work as I am aware the Skalder has autopilot capabilities.” Cal recognised the first voice now, he had heard it many times before. It was the calm and deep programmed voice of a 2-B1 Medical droid. 

“Bolton,” the bounty hunter sighed and Cal sensed the anxiety in her voice. “I can’t.”

“Please elaborate,” the droid pressed.

“My jacket and my tunic, they’ve melted into it, I tried to earlier, it hurts too much…” the bounty hunter explained. 

Cal frowned. Melted clothes and burns? Did he do that? Did he manage to strike her when she jumped him? He couldn’t remember.

“Do not be alarmed Miss Acko, but I am concerned about this burn, it is severe and has damaged some of your fine motor functions, as I can not operate on you until I see you in person, I will advise you seek medical attention elsewhere immediately.” The droid revealed that he was holoconfrencing her. 

She was alone. Good. That meant he didn’t have to worry about any other enemies for the moment. 

“You know Bolt’s, a little note for your bedside manner protocol, when you start a sentence with ‘do not be alarmed’ the patient will immediately become alarmed.” The bounty hunter told the droid with a playful tone, but it was tainted by worry. “I don’t know if I can get help elsewhere, a lightsaber wound is very distinct, a medical centre will report an incident like this to higher-ups, and after what happened, they’ll have tabs on every medical centre in the mid rim. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Noted. I have a contact in the Polis Massa medical centre. It is out of the way of your current destination, but it is safe, not under Imperial control.” There was a rustle of movement and he heard the whirling of a holomap being pulled up. 

“Can’t do it,” she sighed heavily. “I spent our last credits buying just enough fuel to get to Jedha and back home I only have enough to spare for one en-route stop. Polis Massa is just too far away. Unless I get more credits, which we still need since the Kestis job got hairy, I need another option, preferably on Takodana,” she finished.

So credits was what she was after. Of course it was, she was a bounty hunter. She must have been taking him to Takodana to meet her contractor. But what did she mean by the 'job got hairy'? Did she not expect him to be a Jedi? 

How much was he worth? He was curious. 

A deep buzzing sounded above him and he realised it was the droid’s version of humming.

“I shall network and get back to you Miss Acko. Until then, I advise you do not attempt to apply Bacta to the burn, you will risk it healing improperly. All items I am about to list are in the medical kit located on the wall behind you. My instructions for your proper care until you receive treatment are as follows; 

“Cut your clothes around the wound to remove them from you, first use the formula labelled SAL4 to rinse and clean the wound, then dress the wound with the solution labelled IO3, cover this with a 2nd Grade fibrex pad and fasten the pad with 60cm of Size ML Cellucotton bandage. As you have already injected nerve suppressants, take one Lentolium Pill every four hours until you see a medical practitioner. Excluding water to assist you when taking the tablets, keep yourself nil by mouth as you will most likely need to be put under anaesthesia to operate, Do you wish for me to repeat my instructions?”

“I’m not going to remember anything but the fact that I can’t eat, write it-” the was a short trill indicating a transmission had been received, “-Ah, you uh, know me well, thanks Bolt’s, what about my earlier question?”

“While we have been conversing I have concluded my research. I have found that electronet victims will often be dehydrated and experience temporary numbness in limbs, I recommend supplying your guest with electrolytes and water when he awakens.”

Cal tensed. They were talking about him.

“What do we do BD?” He whispered, turning to the little droid on his back. His face fell when he saw empty space. 

“And how long until he wakes up?” She asked. He heard her stand up and walk across the cockpit to the back wall where the Medkit was.

“Factoring the individual’s age and unique condition as a Jedi, I calculate he regained consciousness 3 minutes and 56 seconds ago.” The droid concluded.

“What?” There was panic in her voice. 

He decided he might as well make his presence known. Using the force, he jumped up to the cockpit, ignoring the ladder and landing effortlessly on the upper level. He sprung forward and ignited his lightsaber.

“Woah, hold on a tick mate!” She protested, eyeing his bright blue blade at her throat and raising her hands up in shock. 

“Please desist, you may injure yourself or Miss Acko,” the Medical droid politely requested over the hologram.

A hundred questions ran through his head as he looked at her without her mask for the first time. 

Where was BD? How did he get here? Who was she? What did she want with him? Where were his friends? Where was she taking him? Why did she have a lightsaber in the past? Why did she have a lightsaber wound? Why was she a bounty hunter? Who was Neri? Who was Reed? 

Cal scrutinized the woman in front of him as she stared back at him, unblinkingly and breathing heavily. Although now she was taller, her skin was tanned, her hair was darker and she had outgrown most of her freckles, there was no doubt she was the older version of the crying girl in his vision. His eyes trailed down from her face to the charred mess of her right shoulder and concluded it was definitely a lightsaber wound. 

Opening his mouth finally he settled on the right question to ask her; “Can someone tell me what’s going on here?”

* * *

  
  



	4. The Jedi?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cal finally meets his captor and quickly realizes things are not as they seem, and he still can't shake that feeling that force is at work in all this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no warnings just enjoy.

* * *

“Can someone tell me what’s going on here?” Cal asked with a lot less authority than he intended.

“Okay take it easy mate, turn that glow stick off before you melt something,” the bounty hunter said calmly while trying to back away, “This is just a big misunderstanding.”

“I won’t turn this off until I get some answers,” he dictated boldly.

“Well, and here I thought Jedi were known for their diplomacy,” The bounty hunter said dryly. Cal frowned. He felt offended, he wasn’t sure how exactly her remark had stung but it did...

“I am being diplomatic,” he raised his voice, “I just negotiated terms, you tell me what's going on and I turn this off.” 

“I’d say that’s more of a threat mate, no way to treat the person who just saved your sorry hide,” she gave him a pointed look.

“Saved my- You, you electroneted me!” He was getting sick of this.

“It was an accident,” she explained. 

“How do you ‘accidentally’ stalk someone, call them by name and then shoot them with an electronet?” He asked with exasperation.

“Okay, it kinda was on purpose, but then I regretted it immediately,” she admitted.

“Have you finished exchanging hostilities?” The medical droid asked, reminding them he was still there.

“I don’t know, have you?” She asked him.

“How am I being hostile?” He asked indignantly. She raised an eyebrow and looked at his blade at her throat then back up at him.

Fair point. 

He shut off his lightsaber and clipped it back to his belt.

“Listen, I understand how this looks, and I know you don’t trust me, and that’s a good way to be, it's probably why you’ve managed to survive this long,” she sympathised. “I don’t expect you to trust me, but I assure you, you’re safe, my name's Lytei Acko," she stuck her hand out warily. 

"Cal Kestis," he shook it, "But you already knew that."

"To cut a long story short, you were my quarry until I realised you were a Jedi, now I'm just trying to get you back to your friends, off my ship and outta my hands, that’s why we’re heading to Takodana, I'll drop you off there and you can go met up with Cere and pretend this never happened," she explained. Cal still sensed an unease and anxiety within Lytei. She was hiding something and He did not trust her one bit.

"Yeah maybe,” Cal narrowed his eye at her, “But from what I heard, you still need the credits."

Lytei sighed running a hand through her hair sweeping back a few curls that had escaped the bundle at the nape of her neck.

"That's true," she admitted looking between him and Bolton on the hologram, "You're worth a lot of credits, but not enough for me to go against what I believe is right, if you don't believe me that's fine,” she shrugged, “But the Stinger Mantis is on ship to ship coms and they are tracking our frequency, if contacting your friends will make you feel more comfortable, be my guest, just let me finish my call first.”

That seemed... acceptable, Cal reasoned, relaxing his posture slightly. He nodded and stepped back, "Okay."

“If you want something to eat or drink you're welcome to anything in the galley, there's umm... water, in the taps, and well not much food-wise but…” she paused and wrinkled her brow in thought, “Well, if you do find any food, I'd check the use by, if you need anything else, let me know," she offered, but he knew she was subtly asking him to give her some privacy while she talked. 

Cal turned to head down the ladder when he remembered he was still missing someone. “Where is my Droid? He’s a BD unit he-”

“Oh right, yes, the little fella, sorry,” she apologised and turned to the hologram and held up a finger indicating that she would only be a moment. She paced over to the control console and picked up an unmoving pile of metal. “He was in a bad way after the Electronet cause him to overload-”

'Oh no, no no no,' was all he could think as she carried his little friend over to him. 

“I did my best to fix him-”

“What have you do-” He looked down at BD when she passed him to him and stopped his sentence before it left him. 

BD was spotless.

“I'm no expert but a friend of mine instructed me over hologram, we repaired his optical processor, I didn’t have any BD parts, but I had some R4 parts that had the right grade wires, we used them to rewire the circuits that had blown-”

Cal checked the little droid once over in shock. He didn’t think he'd ever seen BD this clean. She had cleaned the sand out of his servos and oiled his joints. The only fault Cal could see was the restraining bolt attached to him. He looked up at the bounty hunter with a frown and she chuckled. “You’ve got a loyal droid there Kestis-"

"-Please call me Cal, Kestis sounds weird," he interrupted. 

"Well, Cal, if I didn't put that on him when he rebooted, I would have a lot more pressing medical issues to worry about then this,“ she gestured to the nasty looking burn. 

“Sorry," he apologised glancing at it guiltily.

"What are you sorry for?" She asked with a furrowed brow. Her eyes traced his gaze to her shoulder. "You think you did this? Sorry to tell you mate, you didn't get to lay one on me." 

"Then who-” He was interrupted by a small squeal and giggle from the hologram. 

"Aunty Tay, Aunty Tay!" A young child pushed past the medical droid. Lytei tensed and he could see a brief ripple of panic wash over her face, but it was quickly replaced by a nervous smile. 

Cal recognised the young girl immediately. 

"Neri, what are you doing out of bed?" Lytei asked the child in surprise, using her right hand to quickly cover up her wound.

"I couldn't sleep, I heard your voice on the Holo so I wanted to tell you I love you and I miss you," Neri smiled up at the bounty hunter. 

Lytei’s mouth twitched up into a genuine smile as she let out a pained chuckle, "I love and miss you even more, little rascal."

Cal found himself smiling at the exchange. 

This answered a lot of questions. Lytei had become a guardian to the child. The desperation, anxiety and unease he was sensing were caused by the same emotions he had sensed in his vision; inadequacy and determination. Neri was what she had to get back to. Neri was who Lytei was trying to provide for. Neri was the reason she had been hunting him.

“Aunty Tay?” He asked somewhat amused by the notion of such an affectionate nickname being used on Lytei, a bounty hunter. 

“Who’s that?" Neri asked looking at Cal curiously. 

"Woah! Is that your new boyfriend Aunty Tay!” Cal raised his eyebrows in surprise as young female Tholothian’s head suddenly poked in the frame of the projector, her head tendrils swaying slightly from the sudden movement. 

“What? no Tulin! Wait, new boyfriend? When did I have an old boyfriend?” Lytei exclaimed in confusion.

"Aunty Tay!" A small furry alien with large eyes and a bushy tail climbed up on Tulin’s shoulders. Cal could say with certainty he had never seen any species like that before. 

“How many kids do you have?” Cal asked Lytei with bewilderment. She eyed him with a firm unreadable expression, pursed her lips and ignored his question. Cal didn’t need the force to tell that Lytei's heart was racing now. Something irked him about her reaction, or lack of reaction, but he couldn't pinpoint what exactly. Right now trying to sense what was going on with her was an overload, her mind and emotions were like a speedway on Coruscant. 

"Children, if you do not return to bed, you will not receive the optimum amount of rest for tomorrow, Miss Akco, Miss Nilsa and I enforce a bedtime for your benefit,” the medical droid told the children, trying and failing to usher them out of the room. Another figure entered the background of the hologram, a young woman, probably a year or two younger than himself and Lytei. She had a cybernetic arm and a worried expression. 

“I’m sorry Miss Acko, they were sneaky, I didn’t hear them get out of bed…”

“It’s okay Nilsa, I know how sneaky the ankle biters are,” Lytei assured the girl while the kids giggled, “Thank you for your help with the droid earlier,” Lytei nodded at Nilsa and looked back at him cocking her head in the hologram’s direction.

He got the hint. 

“Thanks,” Cal nodded at the young woman and he received a smile from her. 

“No problem,” She sheepishly uttered as she bent down and picked up Neri with one arm, hoisting the child onto her hip. “Children, say good night, then back to bed with you,” she told the three pouting children. 

“Good night Aunty Tay,” they said in unison.  
“Good night, Neri, good night Tulin, good night Weg,” Lytei wished each of them. “Tell the oth- I’ll be home soon, okay? Behave yourselves for Bolton and Aunty Nilsa till I’m back, okay?” The children nodded. "I love you," Lytei smiled at them.

Wait, was she about to say others? Cal’s confusion grew. How many kids did Lytei have? 'Others' meant that she had at least two more. 

Neri waved goodbye and Cal waved back as the children and Nilsa left the view of the holoprojector.

He watched Lytei’s smile fall from her face as soon as the children were out of frame.

“Have they all packed?” She asked solemnly. 

Cal frowned. Packed? 

They were leaving their home. 

“They have, though I must warn you, most of them are disappointed they will miss the Harvest festival,” Bolton reported, “That is, if we are still leaving on schedule?” 

Lytei shook her head, “It doesn’t look like it, but I’ll figure something out," she sighed and let go of her shoulder, no longer hiding the wound. "But Bolts, the kids will have to deal with the disappointment, either way, they can't go this year even if we don't leave on time, it's too dangerous, the festival will be crawling with troopers, and off duty or not, we can't risk it."

So she was hiding and running from the Empire too, Cal deduced. Her home planet must now be under Imperial control and from what he gathered, she was trying to get herself and her family off-world. That solved why she needed Credits, but not why she was running from the Empire in the first place. 

“If I'm not back by the day before the eviction, take the kids to the sea caves to the south and stay there until I can come and get you.” She instructed him then paused in thought. “Bolts, don’t let anyone outside our family know where you are taking them, I may have exposed us to unwanted attention on Jedha,” she added.

“Would I be correct in assuming that unwanted attention is Imperial, Miss Acko?” Bolton inquired.

“At best, yes, at worst, I’ve attracted the attention of something far worse,” she frowned but nodded to herself as if she was trying to win argument in her head, “We should be fairly safe, they never saw my face, and their records believe I am dead, but that being said, we gotta be careful, these types, they're relentless.” She glanced back at Cal then turned back to the droid, “I should free up the line and let Cal contact his friends, thanks for the advice Bolts and get back to me on my holodisk if you find anything close to Takodana that can help with... this-” She gestured to her shoulder, "-Force be willing, I’ll see you soon,” she farewelled the droid.

“Please look after yourself Miss Acko, take care,” Bolton ordered and the blue glow faded away. 

Cal frowned. “What happened on Jedha? Imperials? Something far worse? I didn’t encounter any Imperial trouble while I was on Jedha, what do you mean-” his eyes flickered to the lightsaber wound on her shoulder.

Wait.

She said he ‘never laid one on her’.

So, assuming that that meant the wound wasn’t inflicted by him; who gave her a lightsaber wound while he was unconscious? 

Then it clicked.

Cal’s eyes widened as he slowly pieced the pieces together.

He recalled his vision of Lytei’s younger self clutching a lightsaber, crying for someone who had left her alone with a child who they were supposed to protect together.

Now she was semi-legally trying to acquire credits, planning to run away with children she appeared to have adopted.

She was afraid of Imperial attention.

She wanted him off her ship and out of her hands, yet couldn’t turn him in because it was against what she believed was right.

But the final clue was on her shoulder. 

She mentioned that there was something far worse than Imperial attention. And there, on her shoulder, was a lightsaber wound. Not from a random swipe, but one from a lightsaber _duel_.

“You met an Inquisitor on Jedha didn’t you?” He concluded and pointed at her burn.

Focusing his senses, he heard the melodic hum of a Kyber crystal that was not his own. He reached out and summoned it to his hand. There was a rattle as the weapon unclipped from its hiding place at her back and flew into his hand. Lytei jumped and yelped in surprise. He turned it in his palm examining it carefully. It was the same one from his vision.

So, she still had it after all this time. It was a Shoto lightsaber, he noted. His limited knowledge of shoto users also allowed him to conclude that given she was not short in stature like Master Yoda, this lightsaber was only one half of a whole. One of a set of two.

"They were after me, but because you defended me, they're are after you too now," he concluded feeling his chest swell with hope, as he handed the weapon back to her, "You're a Jedi like me, aren't you?” 

Lytei raised her head and chuckled bitterly, “Half right,” she looked at him sadly, “I did meet an Inquisitor on Jedha, I fought him..." she shrugged dejectedly, "And I lost dismally, I’m only alive because he was an arrogant son of a banther who spent his effort toying with me rather than paying attention to his surroundings." She sighed as she opened the medkit and grabbed a few bottles and bandages from it. "But I am no Jedi," she told him and slammed the medkit closed. 

Cal’s face softened in sympathy. He recognised the cloud of self-doubt within her. It seemed like she was just like he was a few months ago, disconnected from the force, damaged, hurt. He wanted to encourage her, "You know, you don’t have to have completed your trials and training to be a Jedi, what matters is that we remember the teachings and how we face our fear in times like this, as a padawan we can still-"

She cut him off, "- Cal, I'm not a padawan, never was, never will be.” 

“But your Lightsaber, you fought-”

“Someone very wise once told me that having a Lightsaber doesn't make you a Jedi,” she trudged past him. He sensed irritation coming off her. was she in denial? Perhaps she realised she was so afraid in everyday life that she feared turning dark if she tried to call upon the force. Perhaps she had shut herself off like Cere. 

“You should be able to sense it, reach out to me, you’ll find nothing,” she interrupted his thoughts, taking a deep breath before finishing with a heavy sigh; “I’m not Force-sensitive Cal.” 

He did just that.

And she was right; there was nothing. 

Well, not nothing. She was surrounded by the force like all things. Around her, he sensed the force resonate with her strong will, her creative mind, her desire to do the right thing, her fear, but there was no force signature. He didn’t sense the way the force flowed through people like him, in her. 

He deflated a bit. How had he not sensed that earlier?

“Why keep a lightsaber that doesn’t belong to you then?” He asked curiously, wondering how she had learnt to use it well enough to last more than two seconds against an Inquisitor.

“A friend gave it to me for safekeeping,” she said in a nostalgic tone.

"Who?" He questioned. 

Lytei hung her head, "The past is behind me, I like to keep it that way, all you need to know is that I am a friend to the Jedi," she declared with a tone that told him he shouldn't push her further. 

But Cal had asked already knowing the answer. The lightsaber was probably Reed's, this mysterious person from her past. He didn’t mention the name though, it would spook her to know he had lived a moment of her past. 

Although Lytei was clearly not open to talking about her past, Cal still felt the nagging desire to know who was Reed and how she ended up associated with a Jedi if she wasn’t one? It was more than curiosity, he could sense the force guiding him toward Lytei. He was sure now that what he had felt on Jedha was a call not to find the temple, but for him to find her. It was a sensation that pulled him, called to him as if it were saying, 'there's more here, find it.' 

He watched as Lytei leant over the console pressing a few buttons, "I put your call through, I'll be in the refresher downstairs if you need me, you know, for an emergency.” She moved to the ladder and began descending, carefully avoiding putting too much weight on her injured shoulder. Lytei paused before her head disappeared down the ladder, her face darkening, "And… Cal, I'm sorry I got your hopes up that there are more survivors out there, I really am," she apologised and disappeared.

* * *

The hologram whirred and the soft blue light filled the room. Cere smiled with relief and Greez lent over into frame.

“Hey Kiddo!” greez waved

"Oh it is good to see you Cal," Cere greeted him.

"Did I miss anything?" Cal smiled back at them.

“Just all the danger and the part where a woman has to save your ass, as usual,” Merrin sarcastically called from somewhere out of frame.

"Did you get the scan of the temple?" He asked.

"A basic one, there wasn't much time for it when the Imperial ships found you, why were you unconscious by the way?"

Cal thought it best not to worry them by telling them that the owner of the ship he was on was responsible. "I tripped over BD and hit my head," he held up his little friend who was still powered down. "Lytei was passing through and found me," he lied, Cere would have conniption knowing that he was on a bounty hunter's ship with a bounty hunter who was after the bounty on his head. He gauged Cere's face and smiled nervously, she didn’t buy it. Yet she didn’t press for the truth.

“How is Lytei’s hospitality treating you now?” Cere asked with concern. 

“Eh, I’ve had worse hosts,” he shrugged.

"I don't buy that she was just passing by in the middle of the dessert. You should be wary of her intentions," Cere warned. 

He shrugged, "Lytei is a bit secretive, but I sense she has good intentions, I've sensed some of her past as well, I think we can trust her," Cal put forward, "Well at least till we get to Takodana." 

"Is she a Jedi?" Greez inquired enthusiastically and Cere looked up with a hopeful glint in her eye. Just like him, Cere could only hope that there were more survivors out there.

"No, she's not, she's not Force-sensitive," he stated, slightly disappointed. 

"But I saw her swinging a Saber out there, she took out a tie fighter with it!" Greez countered. 

"Having a lightsaber doesn't make you a Jedi," Merrin warned, "A machine with lightsabers killed all my sisters, he wasn't a Jedi or force sensitive but he was deadly and destructive, we should be wary of this Lytei."

"I agree Cal," Cere nodded grimly, "I have never heard of a nonforce user who hasn't learnt the art of duelling to combat Jedi."

"But as you said, lightsabers aren't only used by Jedi, what if she learnt them to combat Inquisitors? It's not like she'd have many Jedi to fight these days, plus I saw her land a blow on that Inquisitor too, the rebellion could use someone like her," Greez enthused. 

Cal raised his eyebrows, she landed a blow on them? Lytei may not be a Jedi, or even force sensitive but she had obviously had some kind of training. 

"She landed a blow?"

"Well it looked like she did, we were in the air so it was hard to tell, but if she did, it did nothing, they must have some improved armour or something." Greez recounted.

Cal frowned at Greez's comment. Lightsaber proof armour; that was concerning.

"But speaking of lightsaber blows, how is Lytei? She said she got grazed, that didn't sound good," Greez asked.

"Why do you care? I've never read you as a mothering type," Merrin snorted yet asked with genuine interest at the same time.

"What? I like this Lytei, personally, I got a good feeling about her, I like her ship as well, I've been checking the specs with our scanners, that baby is fast, if she wanted to, she could have taken Cal and left us two systems behind her every step of the way. So I trust her, just a little. So how is she?"

"To be honest, I think worse then she is letting on, I overheard her medical droid telling her to seek immediate medical attention, it doesn't look good Greez, she can't get help at a medical centre anywhere near here, a lightsaber wound is pretty unique, the droid said something about Polis Masa being safe, but Lytei doesn’t have enough credits or fuel to get there," Cal reported.

Greez looked deep in thought. Then, his face lit up, "If credits are her problem, I know just the place she can get lots of them, and I figured out where we can meet up," Greez grinned with a mischievous glint 

"Why do I get the feeling that what you're suggesting is something I won't approve of?" Cere sighed.

"Tell Lytei that we will meet up at the location I'm sending, there's a Cantina there, a bit of a scum hole, but the owner keep's it classier than your average joint, should be no Imps, and they serve the best Bloody Ranclors in the galaxy," Greez detailed and sent a set of coordinates. 

"Um… Cal?" A voice called from downstairs.

"Yeah?" He shot back.

"I uh… need a hand, nothing urgent but, uh… could you come down here a sec please?"

"Sounds like you’ve gotta go," Cere observed.

"Yeah, I should probably see what that's about," he looked over his shoulder and back to his crew with a grin.

"We'll see you there kid," Greez waved.

"Be careful," Merrin warned. 

"See you soon," Cere smiled and ended the call.

* * *

"What's the problem?" Cal asked once he got to the bottom of the ladder.

"I uhh…" she stammered from behind a doorway out of view, "Well I put the bandage on and I managed to get um most my clothes on, er but I can't get this… over my head, I need it to hide the bandages and… help, I got stuck," she stepped out to the doorway way and waved her hand sticking out of a head hole of a dark blue poncho-like garment. He could feel the embarrassment radiating from her.

"Sure," he grabbed the worn garment, noticing the intricate embroidery around the collar. Once upon a time, it would have been expensive. He carefully grabbed her arms and threaded them through the armholes. She poked her head up through the hole and met his gaze and held it for a second. Then, Lytei quickly averted her eyes and cheeks grew red, "I wouldn't have asked normally, It just really hurt and-"

"It’s fine, you save my life, I help you put a poncho on," he stepped back and offered her a smug grin. She huffed and shook her head, shaking her hair out from under the poncho's collar. Cal hadn’t realised her hair was this long, now that he saw it out, he noted the slight curl from her younger years was still present. He thought it was nice. 'Pretty,' He caught himself thinking. He chastised himself immediately, he shouldn't think like that.

"It’s not a poncho," she argued indignantly bringing him back to reality. "Where I come from it's called a _Garba_ it has sleeves under the mantle and a collar, it's much more formal than a _poncho_ ," she gave pointed look to his own yellow poncho he had taken a liking to. 

Slightly insulted, he folded his arms, "Well where I come _that's_ called a formal poncho," he snarked. 

"Okay then Fashion Authority, did your friends tell you where they were going to meet us?" She chuckled. 

"They gave me coordinates, there's some cantina Greez suggested, he said that he might be able to help you get some credits there."

She examined her holodisk reading the coordinates, "I was going to suggest the same place," she said as she climbed the ladder with some difficulty.

"You've heard of it?" He asked climbing up behind her.

"I've been there before, a few years back," she nodded but he saw in her eyes there was something more there.

"Is there something special about it?" He dug deeper.

"Someone there helped me get my job, I got my life sorted after that," she reminisced.

"I wouldn't say a life in bounty hunting equals a life sorted," he argued.

"I'm not a bounty hunter," She huffed sitting down in the pilot's chair.

"You kidnapping me and your talk of credits suggests otherwise," He pointed, making his case. 

"Well Cal, you were my first quarry, and look how this turned out, I guess my career in bounty hunting was short-lived then huh?" She shrugged and focused on the console in front of her.

"Wait, you're telling me, before today, you've never done this before?"He asked astounded. Talk about beginner's luck, or perhaps, he was slipping. Either way, the conclusion was worrying. "What do you do then? What job did you find at this cantina?"

"Farming," she said without any detail. 

"Farming?" He pushed for answers. There was no way someone like her was just a farmer. "Why change career now?"

"Look, it doesn't matter why I changed my career, my life choices aren't any of your business, the sooner I drop you off the sooner we go back to being strangers," she argued.

"It’s the Empire, isn't it? They got to your home planet and they are making you nervous, you feel you've gotta take your family and run," he deduced.

"They aren’t making me nervous, I have no choice! The Empire came and took my plot, ended my contract and gave me an eviction notice, and now I'm whatever puts a roof over my family's heads," She corrected with a tense tone. Cal could sense her growing irritated, he could also see it. Every time she pushed a button on the console she did it with more force than necessary. 

"But I bet you weren’t always a farmer-"

"I bet you weren't always a scrapper!" She snapped.

Cal retracted back into himself. That hurt. Those words dug deep and stayed there. Lytei looked at his face and her features softened.

"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for," she apologised. "I'm not used to people asking questions like that, it feels like... It just... I freak out, and I am sorry," she hung her head and sighed. 

He understood, he really did. Those years on Bracca, when his workmates asked about his life he also grew tense, he knew they were just making conversation, but it still, felt like they were after him, like an interrogation, like an attack. When you've been in that mode of self-preservation for so long, you forget that there are people without agendas out there, people like Prauf. 

"I'm sorry for pushing you, sometimes talking about your past is difficult, I get it," he apologized. She looked up at him and nodded in aprication, "I do have a question... not about your past," he clarified, "How did you know I was a scrapper?"

"I read your file, said your homeworld was Bracca, you're also wearing a Riggers jumpsuit, there's not much else much you could be," she explained as a shadow of something past on her face, like she just remembered something awful. There was a mournful look on her face as she braved a glance at him. He sensed a deep regret in her, but it was fleeting, buried when she reached out for a small item on the console. "I forgot to give it to you, Neri distracted me," she changed the subject handing him a magnetised key, "We're coming up on Takodana, so you might wanna sit down," she advised. 

He took a seat in the chair next to her and pressed the key to the restraining bolt. There was a small whir as BD's systems restarted. Immediately the droid whipped out his coupler, sparking it to life as he got ready to defend himself. The little droid almost made a growling noise with a low threatening buzz.

"Woah BD, calm down, it's okay, you’re safe." At his voice, the droid retracted his coupler and swivelled his little body to see Cal.

"BOOOEEEEPP!" He exclaimed leapt onto Cal's chest nuzzling under his chin.

"Haha, yeah I missed you too buddy," Cal laughed.

"Good to see you working again BD, how are you? Have you run a diagnostic?" Lytei asked. BD let out a low buzz in warning. The droid stepped protectively in front of Cal on the console.

"Hey hey BD, she's okay, she's with us," Cal told his friend. 

"Bepowa bo bep?"

"Yeah she did electonet us, but she didn’t know who we were, she made a mistake."

"Bepfewpo!"

"I think we can trust her, she did fix you," he tried to convince his friends.

"Pep beepa bo bo?"

"Yeah, I did clean your servos, got all the sand out of them," Lytei answered, revealing she could understand the droid's Binary. BD looked back at him.

"She did." He confirmed 

BD cautiously edged over to Lytei and looked up at her focusing and unfocusing his optical unit, then he trilled happily and jumped into her lap nuzzled against her chest.

"You're very welcome," Lytei laughed and used one hand to pat the droid.

"Well you won him over easily," Cal said with an amused grin. 

"Let’s hope I can charm the rest of your crew," she joked and disengaged the hyperdrive, bringing them into real space above the greenest planet he had ever laid eyes on.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading I got some lovely comments and kudos I am glad that you guys like it. You're the best. It was real encouragement because I wasn't sure if people would like it.  
> let me know if you guys want to know more about in world stuff, cause most of it I am taking from cannon, but other bits I am making up. I can also answer questions in the comments if you have any.


	5. The Cantina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cal is reunited with his crew and Lytei is reunited with an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm uploading two chapters today because I made one massive chapter and I'm splitting it in half. So stay tuned
> 
> warnings: Lytei talks about her past, so mentions of violence, war and child soldiers, but not graphic.

"You should pull your hood up," her scrambled voice warned. He followed behind as the masked woman led him through an ancient palace courtyard.

"Why? Am I that ugly?" He joked as he gazed up at the hundreds of colourful flags that were strung up above him.

"Opposite actually, you're noticeably attractive," Lytei commented and he did a double-take. She stopped walking and tried to backtrack, "Uh, I mean, you're nice looking, no! You're ... you're like a cute handsome, not a rugged handsome-Arg!" She slapped her forehead, "What I mean is, in a place like this, you're noticeable," she stammered.

He knew what she meant but he still couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease her.

"Really? What's notably attractive about me that got your attention when choosing a quarry?" He asked while BD snickered with a small whistle from his back.

"Well your hair makes you stick out like a sore thumb, but what stood out to me is the credits attached, your bounty’s a high one and there's sure to be people in there who will be on the lookout for Jedi Master Ginge," she quipped. 

"I get the impression that you think I'm an idiot," he said as he pulled his hood over his head.

Lytei sighed and stopped outside the entrance, "It gives me the irrates that you manage to stumble around in a bright yellow poncho, wielding a lightsaber in plain sight, using the force in plain sight, flying around the galaxy in a flashy ship and still be breathing," she turned back to face him, "So to answer your question, yes I do think you're a bit of an idiot, you don't seem careful, you've survived on what I perceive to be dumb luck." 

"Dumb luck? You have no idea what I have been through," Cal defended.

"You're right, I don't, not exactly, but I have an idea, tell me if this sounds familiar," she stepped aside, intending to finish this conversation outside, her tone suddenly becoming serious. "Because of dumb luck or the Will of The Force, whatever you'd call it, you've had a good run laying low, staying out of trouble, but suddenly you're out of that protective little bubble on Bracca, first you’re scared, terrified, but soon enough, you feel invincible, deflecting stormtroopers bolts, mind tricking guards, you're feeling confident as the force flows through you again, you even best one particular enemy that put up a great fight and you feel like you can take on the Empire?" 

Cal stared at his masked companion as BD whistled in agreement on his back. 

He had felt like that before he met Vader. That had shaken him. Yet, now he caught himself back in the same mindset as she described. The past month had been successful, almost too easy. He bit his lip and met her yellow lenses' intense stare.

"Cal I'm not trying to antagonize you, I'm trying to give you a wake-up call," she raised her hand and rested it on his shoulder trying to convey her concern. 

"You still need to be as cautious as that first day after the purge, you're new to covering your tracks and being actively sought out and hunted, it was worryingly easy to track you down and even easier to identify you," she let her hand drop to her side and looked down. "I have been actively hunted, I've spent years hiding from the Empire, Inquisitors and bounty hunters, everything I have done to survive has been me, learning from mistakes other people around me make." Even behind a mask, Cal could tell a dark shadow had settled in her expression, "Cal, if I make a mistake, that's it, _bushka-"_ he had no idea what that word meant, but he assumed it was bad,-"I have had no Jedi mind tricks to get me out of a hairy situation, no force push or pull to help, that's it, I'm dead or worse."

His expression softened, "Okay…" he hummed then glanced at the Cantina's entrance, "How about constructive criticism over Prow," he smirked.

"Are you even old enough to drink that?" He could feel her eye roll despite the mask obscuring it. 

"Are you?" He jabbed.

"On this planet, yes, but I don’t drink, I can't afford to impair my senses or judgment for even a second," She remarked.

"Sounds like you need a drink," he chuckled as she followed behind him into the entrance and down the short set of stairs.

"Not today mate, even if I wanted to, doctor's orders," she reminded him patting her left shoulder and surveyed the bustling room, "Looks like your friends aren't here yet, we should grab a table."

* * *

She strategically chose a table at the back of the room that had a clear view of who walked in. The longer she sat the more she felt her emotions stewing. She scanned the dingey room, noting the many different faces on show and languages being spoken. The smell of stale alcohol mingled with the mouth-watering smokey smell of whatever was sizzling in the kitchen. A band of Rodians were playing an upbeat folk reel with some exotic pipe and string instruments she didn't recognize.

Yet, after 4 years it still looked the same. 

As she finished up scanning the room for threats she spotted one figure staring directly at them. Lytei met the short ancient alien's gaze and swallowed hard. She was still here, after four years, she still had the same scrutinizing gaze. Will she recognise me behind the mask? Oh Force have mercy, don't let her recognise me, Lytei hoped silently. 

Coming here was a bad idea.

Today had been rough, she did not have the strength to say hello, no matter how kind the cantina owner had been. She knew a conversation with that woman would only end the way it did last time, a very emotional display. 

"So what was it?" Cal asked snapping her out of her inner thoughts.

"What was what?" She asked back.

"What tipped you off, how did you find us?" Cal leant on the table with his elbows.

"You refuelled at the same station on Jedha 6 times, I had a contact who tipped me off about sighting your ship," she explained.

"Ah," he noted and leant back in his chair in thought, "Greez likes a bargain, the fuel there is cheaper."

"Yeah well be careful not to bargain with your lives, If I had a contact at that fuel station, the Empire had four, there are spies everywhere," she warned.

Cal nodded in thought, "So, where are you going to go, after you go get your family? If there are spies everywhere, where is safe?" Cal asked. She stiffened.

She knew he meant well, but for the sake of the kids, she could never tell him. They were already in dangerous territory with him even knowing of their existence. It would not take Cal long to put the pieces together. From the small-time she had had with him, she could tell that despite not being the most covert fugitive, he was not an idiot. He was quite intuitive and observant, unnaturally so. 

"Lytei, are you okay?" Cal asked.

"Yeah, sorry, just thinking... I was thinking Hutt space," she lied. 

He quirked an eyebrow, "Isn't that dangerous? That's Lawless Space..."

"Cal!" A woman in a red cloak rushed to the table. The poncho wearing Jedi stood up to greet her but was nearly bowled over as she embraced him. "I thought we might have lost you."

Merrin, Lytei concluded. Now seeing her pale complexion and tattoos in proper colour, she identified her as a Nightsister immediately.

Lytei had only seen one Nightsister before, but she had been told that that particular individual was more a fallen Jedi than a Nightsister. It was not a happy memory. However, Lytei resolved that she shouldn't hold the actions of one individual against an entire race.

She watched on as Cal awkwardly returned the hug.

"I'm alright Merrin, I hope you weren't too worried about me," he reassured her. Lytei cocked her head. There was something in the way the two greeted each other. It was a strange relationship; a Jedi and a Nightsister. She wasn't a Jedi, but she sensed a genuine affection between them. What kind? She had yet to figure that out. 

Eying the door, she watched the Lateron pilot Greez wander through the entrance closely followed by Cere. They sighted Cal and made straight for him, smiles on their faces. 

Lytei caught herself swallowing a bitter expression as she watched the exchange from the far side of the table.

She watched Cal smile.

He'd found a good family, a home. He didn't seem to care that his world could end tomorrow.

She wished she could feel that way. 

Softly sighing, she was reminded of her situation. She needed to get back to her own family.

Her work was done here.

She quietly stood up from the table and slunk into the shadows of the back corner. Edging slowly around the room towards the exit. She would just have to hope that her condition held up while she searched for work at the spaceport.

"You think you can leave without saying anything to old Maz?" A distinctive voice made her stop in her tracks.

"You must’ve me mistaken with someone else, I've never been here before," she replied trying to level her voice out. She turned and faced the short-statured alien with magnification goggles poised on top of her round, leathery, orange head.

"My dear, you know I never forget a face, even when it is hidden behind a new name," Maz reached out and grabbed her hand giving it a comforting squeeze. 

"Lytei?" Cal suddenly appeared beside her with a hurt expression, "You were going to leave without saying goodbye?" BD bobbed up over his shoulder and hummed a dejected low whistle. 

"I thought it’d be better this way," she lamely excused. 

Behind Cal, his crew came up to meet her in person. Merrin and Cere had polite expressions trying and failing to hide their distrust, but Greez smiled at her.

"Stay for a drink, please, I hear you're a normal person like me, it would be nice to talk to someone who doesn't say something cryptic and wizard-y every five minutes," Greez pleaded.

"And I would like to hear about what brought you to Jedha, with such a _peculiar_ weapon," Cere subtly accused

"Come," Maz addressed all of them, "I have a private room upstairs where we can talk freely, It has been too long since I have had guests like you," she looked at Cal and Cere, then turn to Lytei, "And it has been too long since I've seen you my dear, I want to hear everything." 

Maz wanted to hear everything, and that's what she had been dreading. 

Lytei hesitated, eyeing the door then, glancing back at the group in front of her.

"I also heard you need credits, maybe we can help you out?" Greez offered.

As much turmoil as her emotions would cause her if she stayed, the logical side said she needed credits one way or another. Here was an offer of help from good people, despite what she had done to Cal. Ultimately, to stay and interact was a better, safer, option for acquiring credits. However, she also had a gut feeling, an instinct that these people could be trusted. Just a little.

* * *

The group followed Maz up to one of her castles turrets where a small round room with a few cosy lounges around a small table in the centre. Maz announced she would be back and quickly left. Cal plonked himself down on one couch between Cere and Merrin. Lytei sat in the chair closest to the door. Cal wasn't sure what was going on with her. He was beginning to think that Lytei was one of the few people Jedi found very hard to read. He sensed that Cere found this too, and it made her uneasy. 

Master Tapal had told him that the intentions and thoughts of people with strong minds were hard to read, but sometimes emotions were easier to sense. Not in Lytei’s case. Right now she was emotionally unreadable, it was just too much to sift through. The only thing he could tell was from her body language. The way she bounced her knee and rubbed her palms against her thighs wiping sweat from them was a dead give away; she was nervous.

"Bondulli!" Maz announced proudly and carried a plate of strangely shaped bright orange pastries. Maz placed the plate on the table slightly closer to Lytei’s end. 

He watched Lytei slowly reach up and slide her mask on top of her head. She stared at the pastries with an astonished look, "You remembered… how’d you even manage to get these?"

"I had a feeling I would be seeing you soon, it is one of our chef's specials, I added them to the menu this week," Maz smiled. 

Lytei’s face suddenly fell, "Oh... I’m sorry, I can't have any," she gestured to her shoulder, "I might have to have an operation soon, I'm on orders not to eat anything, these look wonderful though, thank you." 

"Ah, well I can give you some to take with you later, but perhaps, for now, your friends would like to try food from your homeworld?" Maz suggested.

"We’re more… acquaintances, we met yesterday," Lytei shrugged.

Greez swiped one from the plater and inspected it, "Smells good, I consider myself a bit of a culinary artist, but I can't say I have ever heard of Bon-doo-lee, where's it from?" 

"Nulnova," Lytei answered wistfully. "They're a snack food, but I'll warn you, they're a bit spicy." 

"I've had Seikoshan Peppers and survived kid, I'll be fine," Greez beamed and took a bite out of the pastry. "Wooh yeah, I'm learning how to make these babies, where have these been all my life?" 

Cautiously each member of the crew took one as Lytei watched on hungrily. Greez scoffed up his first and went for a second.

Merrin took a bite and quirked a brow, "These are not spicy, but they are still very good. We should visit this Nulnova if all their food is this delicious."

Cal and Cere took a cautious bite. His mouth was on fire. A bit spicy? It felt like he bit into a sun. He swallowed the mouthful he had whole and wheezed as he put the remainder of his Bonduli on the table. Cere was having a similar reaction. 

"May I get something to drink?" Cere coughed politely.

"I'll have whatever she's having," Cal wheezed. Maz nodded and grinned, turning behind her to grab a tray of drinks passing one to him and Cere. He gulped the blue creamy liquid eagerly to sooth his burning mouth.

Merrin and Lytei chuckled and BD trilled along with them.

"Who knew Jedi couldn’t handle a bit of flavour, " Merrin teased, "Oh well more for me then," she snatched his abandoned pastry and took a bite out of it while smirking at him playfully. He tried to smile back but coughed again, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. 

"So Nulnova, huh? No wonder your ship is fast, you've fitted one of their Excelsior model hyperdrives into your ship haven't you? How'd you get your hands on one of them, their military-grade aren't they?" Greeze asked. 

As Cal recovered from the explosion in his mouth his ears pricked up. 

So Lytei was a Nulnovian. 

He had heard of Nulnova, it was in the Mid Rim, a few systems away from Bracca. Her voice modulator made sense now. Nulnovians had their own language, but when they spoke basic they carried a distinct accent, similar to the traditional Mandolorian accent but with various vowel sounds more elongated or harshly shortened.

As for the planet itself, He hadn’t heard much about it, other than what he had heard from various sources during the war. 

It was a system that suffered heavy civilian casualties during the Clone Wars. He knew it was a constitutional Monarchy, and the Separatists attacked the capital and dethroned the royal family at the start of the war to take control over the Nul System's strategic hyperspace routes and commandeer their hyperdrive and solar converter factories for the CIS war effort. From what he remembered, before he and his master had been deployed to Bracca, the Republic had sent a Jedi led Clone Battalion to aid the Nulnovian Royal Forces, the outcome of that, he did not know.

"I salvaged it, all the Royal fighters were being scrapped after the Empire took over the show," she explained nostalgically.

"So you left Nulnova when the Empire formed?" Cere asked.

"Yeah, I had to, wasn’t safe," she answered with an absent look. 

"Why? I mean Nulnova was liberated from Separatist’s control, and the Empire lets the Royal family have sovereignty,-" 

"Sovereignty?” Lytei raised her head and laughed bitterly at Greez’s remark, “So they’ve got you fooled too?" She sighed and shook her head, "The Royal family I once served are puppets now, the Queen’s a shadow of what she once was, she’s grief-stricken after the death of the King and her two older children, and the Young Princess…” Lytei’s face contorted in a pained expression, “She eats from the Empire’s hand, they’ve brainwashed her with their propaganda." 

He could tell she was becoming more emotional, however, her posture was now more relaxed. It was a good emotional; a letting go. She seemed to have eased up.

Maybe it was the location awakening memories.

Perhaps she trusted him more. 

Or perhaps she just needed someone to listen? Keeping emotions inside without letting them go was a heavy burden. 

“Why did you have to leave?” Merrin asked curiously.

Lytei’s head hung, "I can’t ever go back because I know the truth, and I’m a traitor for it. I can't go back to my home, I can't see my family, I can't even contact them because I helped someone."

"What’s the truth then?" Merrin pressed.

"The Empire is wrong, Jedi aren't traitors." Lytei revealed looked up directly at him as she continued, "I know that the Clones killed the King, not General Ryo, they opened fire on General Ryo and her Padawan unprovoked, only the Queen, Crowned princess and Ryo’s padawan saw what really happened and lived." 

"If only they know, how do you know if you weren't there?" Merrin asked

"It’s because you helped Ryo’s padawan escape didn't you?" Cere concluded for her. Lytei looked up at her and nodded silently. 

"Are they the owner of your lightsaber?" Cal questioned.

"Yes, it’s one of his,” Lytei confirmed.

Reed, Cal deduced. 

“Are you still in contact with him? Do you know where he is?” Cere rapidly shot questions at her. 

Lytei retreated back into her chair; “We got separated, I haven't seen him in four years.”

Cal turned Cere and gestured discreetly to be gentle with her. He could tell Cere was hoping that there was another padawan out there she could save, but Lytei would close up if she felt interrogated.

She sniffed and looked up at the ceiling blinking back tears. “Sorry, I can’t, I...” 

“How did you know him?” He asked conversationally. 

Lytei was very clearly upset and she had been trying to bury something in her since she had left Jedha, but something about Maz and this place seemed to be bringing it up. 

Maz placed a hand on her arm, “Take your time,” she comforted her. 

Lytei took a shaky breath and started again. 

"His name was Reed Tepli, we fought together in the Clone Wars, he was a bit older than me, but despite that in a short while we became good friends; best friends," she reminisced fondly, but then her face darkened. "We had just driven the Separatists from our system and there was a celebration. Reed and his master were at a formal dinner with the Royal family…” she paused and stared at the floor, “When it happened, I was on the palace grounds celebrating with my friends… some Clones,” She added.

Cal knew this story would not end well.

“We were watching the Pryo show and they just left, without saying a word... I was looking for them when people started to panic as the news broke that blasters had been fired in the dining hall... I went to see if Reed was alright and I found Reed holding General Ryo’s body in a study,” she told them, but she didn’t look them in the eye. 

“Reed said halfway through dinner, Clones interrupted and started blasting. They killed General Ryo and the King… I didn’t know what to do, we just stood there for ages trying to comprehend it, but... they found us.” Lytei paused and closed her eyes with a wince, “Reed was right, the Clones, they’d all gone mad.” She slowly shook her head as if still trying to process it. “They were my friends you know, they were Reed’s friends too, I still can't understand it. Nothing made any sense…” she teared up again, “I tried to reason with them but…they wouldn’t listen...I, I...” she refused to utter the words. 

However, Cal knew what went in the blank; ‘I had to kill them.’ 

“After that, we ran into the hanger, stole a ship and just got out of there," she finished.

“How did you find Reed in the panic? Are the palace grounds small?” Merrin asked suspiciously.

Lytei looked up at her with a furrowed brow, “You don’t believe me?”

Cal looked between the two and tensed up.

“I don’t like being deceived,” Merrin narrowed her eyes, “I just find it far fetched that you could manage to find someone quickly enough to help them escape in a palace that is probably full of guards and clearly, full of these ‘Clones’.”

“Merrin!” Cal exclaimed in shock.

“What? She is not telling us something, I can tell she is hiding something, I thought it was a simple enough question to try and get her to be truthful to us, if she cannot do that, then we can’t trust her,” Merrin defended.

Greez and Cal opened their mouth to say something but it was stopped when Lytei looked down and mumbled incoherently.

“Sorry, what did you say?” Cere asked.

“Tell them, my dear, they’ll understand, they’ll know,” Maz encouraged her with a pat on her back

“I felt Reed call out to me,” She revealed sheepishly, “I felt his pain and I knew he was in trouble, that’s how I found him." 

"Hold on, back up,” Greez squinted in confusion, “ You ‘felt’? I thought you said you weren’t a Jedi?"

"Reed spoke in my mind, we did it often, not like he did that night but, normally you know," Lytei looked at both Cal and Cere expectantly as if waiting for them back her up, but he shared Greez’s confusion. Lytei frowned, “Is that not common?”

“Um, not quite like that, no,” Cal said dumbly.

"Wait what, you Jedi have telepathy? Have you been reading my mind?" Greez exclaimed in horror.

"All Force users have Force empathy, the ability to sense feelings and mental states of others, telepathy as Lytei describes is rare,” Cere tilted her head studding Lytei, “Effective telepathic communication is difficult and often requires both sides to have immense trust in one another, a strong bond like a padawan and master, but I've never heard of it being used to communicate quite like that with non-Force sensitives. Was he part of a telepathic species?"

"No, he was human, but I guess General Ryo did tell me he was gifted in reading minds and emotions, Reed spoke telepathically to her too, I kinda just thought it was something all Jedi did," Lytei furrowed her brow, "He could speak clear words to me, but I couldn't speak back, he could sense my feelings and vague thoughts when he did it though, I could feel his too,” she sighed deeply. “He explained once that he couldn’t talk into random people’s minds normally, especially a strong mind, but he could talk to me because I trusted him and my mind was open to him, if he tried to on someone with a strong, closed mind, it hurt them, and he hated that,” she recounted. 

“Entering people’s minds without their consent is a Darkside power,” Cere explained, “Because of this, many Jedi don't even like to attempt telepathic communication, it's too easy to damage a person’s mind, but it seems your friend was gifted." Cere sat back intrigued, her mistrust replaced with curiosity.

"That sounds very… intimate,” Merrin remarked, “You must have had a strong connection. You said you could feel his pain?” 

Cal raised an eyebrow and looked to Lytei curious to hear her answer.

Lytei winced, but nodded, “I wouldn’t say intimate, but I guess it was because I felt everything, I felt his pain from his blaster burns, his panic and confusion, usually, he could block that out from carrying over but, he wasn’t concentrating,” she recounted with a glassy look, “That night was the first time our connection hurt me, and after that, I finally understood why Jedi tried to remove all emotion,” Lytei admitted darkly.

"You said that the princess saw the whole thing, yet she is still with the Empire?" Greez questioned. 

Lytei looked startled in her seat, "No, that is the young princess, Princess Derna, her older sister the Crowned Princess saw the whole thing, she… she helped Reed escape the dining room,” she explained hastily. “After that she fled and was branded a traitor, went into exile, no one’s heard from her since, she's assumed dead," Lytei recounted. 

He sensed there was more to that story, "Did you know her?"

"Yeah, pretty well,” she nodded, “I was her handmaiden on the front. She, General Ryo and I bunked together in the female quarters, and Reed was tasked with protecting her, so the three of us were friends."

“You must have been young, very young to be fighting,” Cere observed. Cal hadn’t really thought of her age at the time of the purge, he was a padawan, it was kind of considered normal for him, but Lytei...

“After the Separatists bombed the capitals to get the planet to submit, Nulnova lost almost one-third of the planet’s population,” Lytei told them with a pained expression.

“One third?” Greez murmured in disbelief. Merrin shook her head slightly. Cal was speechless. He knew the casualties had been high, but he never assumed they were that high.

“What the Separatists didn't understand is that the Nulnovian's code dictates that we be do not engage in war until provoked. We weren't at war with the Seps, we were just ignoring them, defending ourselves when necessary, until that day. To uphold our code, total war means every Nulnovian able to is called to fight. Many civilians and Cadets volunteered to joined the Royal forces. The Princess joined the Royal Forces to inspire the people and boot morale, especially after the Separatist executed the Prince publically,” she paused and looked down at her feet, “My father was an Admiral and I was already a cadet and top of my class, as I had the skills, I was assigned to assist the Princess, we were sent on covert and diplomatic missions most of the time, away from the front, and I went where she went -ahg!” Lytei winced as she lifted her arm and shifted in her seat.

“Looks like the nerve suppressants are wearing off,” Cal observed, “What’s you plan Greez? Lytei needs to see a doctor and soon.”

“You are hurt?” Maz placed her hand over Lytei’s shoulder gently and frowned deeply. “This wound feels like it goes deeper than the flesh, your attacker has wounded your heart.” 

“We need to get her to a Medcenter now if the damage is that bad!” Cal exclaimed and got up from his chair.

“Relax mate, Maz is being metaphorical,” Lytei reassured him, “There’s nothing wrong with my heart, physically anyway,” she trailed off. Cal relaxed but glance at the mysterious alien woman in front of him. Maz seemed to be a bit clairvoyant. Although not entirely Force-sensitive he could tell by the echo’s surrounding this castle, Maz had been around for a long time. “You’re right though, it’s worse, I can’t feel some of my fingers, and since the nerve suppressant is wearing off, I think that’s a bad thing. Greez what do you have in mind?” 

“Maz, my dear, are there any Hintaro players here?” Greez smiled. 

Cere sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“In fact, a high roller has been swindling people all morning, it would be a shame if his winnings went to a good cause,” Maz slyly smiled at the Lateron, “His name is Vinak, he’s a Petrolian.”

“Okay kid, if you do what I tell you, you’ll be cashed up enough to buy a planet, also Cal I’m going to need your help.” Greez pointed at him.

“Why my help?” He asked confused.

“I need you to fix the dice with your Jedi wizardry,” Greez instructed him.

“Isn’t that cheating?” Cal glanced sideways at his friend.

“Yeah it is, but it’s the only way we can be sure Lytei will win, besides, we’ll only cheat a little bit”

“Gambling? I don’t have anything to gamble! I won’t even be able to enter a match,” Lytei questioned.

“Your ship, you can wager that,” Greez suggested.

“NO! Not the Skalder, she’s all I have!” Lytei protested. 

“You won’t lose her,” greez assured her, “She’s a valuable wager with the modifications you’ve made, easily worth 40,000 credits-”

“-70,000,” Lytei corrected indignantly, “That ship is my life, I have good memories with her.”

Cal cocked his head. The Skalder was not a happy place. The Force echos that were on the ship were like a fog of misery and grief. He found it interesting that she thought it was full of good memories. She must only hold on to the few moments of happiness and regard them higher than all the others. 

“If Cal does what I tell him, she'll never be in harm's way, you get your credits and you can get on your way,” Greez assured her. 

Lytei bit her lip but didn’t hesitate long, “How do I play?”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading I got some lovely comments and kudos I am glad that you guys like it. You're the best. It was real encouragement because I wasn't sure if people would like it.  
> let me know if you guys want to know more about in world stuff, cause most of it I am taking from cannon, but other bits I am making up. I can also answer questions in the comments if you have any.


	6. Dumb Luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greez proposes a Hintaro match to get Lytei credits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings; gambling, mentions of torture.

* * *

After brief coaching from Greez and a Lentolium pill, she did not feel anywhere near ready to gamble and bluff her way to Polis Masa. She had already said goodbye to Cere and Merrin, who wished her well before heading back to their ship. Well, Cere did, Merrin kind of just stood there and nodded. Scanning the room she spotted the small green-skinned amphibian sitting at a table being fawned over by a Twi’lek. Among an assortment of other players, a Weequay was grumbling to himself and adding chips to the accumulating pile in the centre and a Toydarian was flapping his wings in a frustrated manner also adding to the pile.

‘Alright here we go, just don’t be nervous, keep cool, you got this,’ she pep talked to herself.

“Is the table open Gentlemen?” Her electronically disguised voice asked.

“That depends if you’ve got enough credits to play little lady,” Vinak's scratchy voice sneered.

She leaned over and deposited her holodisk on the table projecting her ship and it’s specs, “Is my ship credit enough?” She watched the players first laugh at her and roll their eyes but quickly change their minds, looking at it greedily as they read the specs.

“That’s a lot to bet in an opening-round, are you sure you know what you’re doing miss? I’d hate to strand you here,” Vinak warned.

No, I don’t have a clue, she thought.

“We are playing Hintaro, aren't we? I could have mistaken, cause it seems like you're playing swamp turkey, mate.” she bit back. The table oohed in response. 

Was that too feisty? She turned her head to the side and saw Cal and Greez sitting there, trying to look inconspicuous. Greez gave her a discrete thumbs up.

Okay, it was just right apparently. 

“I don’t know if you know who you’re dealing with,” Vinak croaked in amusement.

“I guess I’ll see won’t I ?” She remarked and sat down at the table and placed a colourful chip representing her ship in the centre pool.

“Are all the players ready?” An old protocol droid asked.

“Ready,” All six and herself replied.

“Round one,” the droid called and picked up four dice and an empty cup and began to shake it, “Call out your totals.”

“18.” the Weequay grumbled

“14.” the Toydarian announced.

“16.” Vinak proclaimed confidently. Others around the table announced their totals, leaving her last.

Greez told her to truly play the first round, but win the match so that Vinak would raise the stakes. They needed to make sure they didn’t win by a long shot, that would make people suspicious. Her first match she shouldn’t call a 4 or a 24; they were the rarest numbers called ‘Taro’ and constituted an automatic win if someone called them correctly and an automatic loss if guessed wrong. She would only call that if she was going to lose.

She should also avoid winning on the ‘Hin’ if possible. the hin numbers were 5-8 and 20-23 they were the second rarest numbers and gave players double of what a usual score would be.

“10,” she decided. 

Vinak urged his female companion up, “Go on sweetheart, for good luck.” The Twi’lek giggled and sauntered over to the droid and blew a kiss over the cup. Behind her mask, Lytei rolled her eyes, but then she smiled as an amusing thought came to her. Maybe she should get Cal to do the same, after all, he was her lucky charm. 

The droid tipped the dice out on the table and let it roll. “5, 3, 4, 3,” the droid called, “Total of 15.” She winced. She just missed out on points. Players only got points for being four numbers above or below, the closer the total, the more points. The droid placed 12 point cards in front of the Toydarian and Vinak and a 4 point card in front of the Weequay. One other player got a 4 point card and the droid adjusted the scoreboard. She was tied last with three others.

“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” she heard Greez whisper behind her. 

“Bold attitude from someone so… unlucky,” Vinak mocked her.

“Match is not over yet mate,” she stated flatly.

“Round 2,” the droid announced and rolled out the dice, “Your totals please.”

“18,” she went first this time to give Cal time to prepare to interfere if he needed.

“15,” Vinak announced.

Other’s followed:

“12.”

“7.”

“22.”

“13.”

“4,” The Weequay announced. Every murmured with excitement, claiming a Taro number was bold. 

The droid tipped the cup out “6,5,1…” the last dice continued to bounce across the table and onto the floor, the droid bent down and picked it up and announced the last number, “6. Total of 18.”

“Yess!” she hissed quietly but then deflated as she realised the reason she had won. 

“Arrggh!” the Weequay growled in defeat and stormed off from the table. He was out.

The droid slid a 16 point card towards her, an eight-point card to Vinak and two 4 point cards to the player that won on a Hin number. 

She was in the lead now. 

“You’ve been holding out on us eh?” the Toydarian laughed.

“Just letting you build up a false sense of security,” she replied.

“Your totals for the final round please?” the droid asked collecting the dice.

“5,” Vinak boldly proclaimed. If he won on that number he could beat her. She needed some wiggle room.

“20,” she said. The table uttered their totals. Taking a peek at Cal's concentrated face at the table behind her she turned back and held her breath as the droid tipped the dice out. The dice spun on their corners and landed with their faces on display. 

“5, 5, 6, 5, a total of 21,” the droid passed two 12 point cards to her, “Double points for Hin numbers and a 4 point card to this gentleman,” he passed it to the Toydarian across the table, “With a total of 40 points, the winner of 50% of the pool,” the droid gestured to her, “In second on 20 points is Vinak 30% of the pool and third is Putuko, on 16 points, 20% of the pool.” The droid divided the chips among them. Lytei counted the chips,. She got her ship back plus the equivalent of 20,000 credits. Much more than enough to get her to Polis Masa and then home. 

“Beginner’s luck! Rematch!” Vinak grumbled as he counted his chips.

“Here we go,” Greez whispered and grinned as he sipped a red foamy drink that had appeared in his hand since she last looked.

“I want my chips cashed first,” she demanded. A few players pulled out their data chips and taped them to her holodisk transferring credits, the Weequay slunk back to the table gave her a fair amount of Wupiupi. Another human gave her credits in hand.

Once she received her winnings she deposited her chips representing her recent winnings in the pool. Vinak shooed the Twi’lek that had been sitting next to him off and slammed down chips representing 60,000 credits, “Bet the ship as well make it worthwhile! Winner takes all!”

The other players stood up and joined the small crowd of onlookers that had gathered around the table.

“Are you sure you want to do this mate?” She asked in a subtle warning.

“Cut the Kriff girl, bet the ship.” Vinak snarled.

“Okay,” she placed the chip down. She felt uneasy, Vinak was either too enraged to be thinking straight or very confident. She glanced at Cal, he gave her a small smile and nodded. Behind her voice modulator her lips turned up slightly; she knew Cal wouldn’t let her lose, she trusted him. 

“Round one, totals please,” the droid started up again.

“12.” She supplied.

“5,” Vinak uttered scratching the back of his head.

The droid rolled the dice out and the dice, “1,1,1,2, a total of 5,-”

DE-RAA DEET DEET DEET DE-RAA DEET-

Her holodisk trilled, she pulled it out of her pocket and silenced it while glancing at the Comlink ID; Home. She frowned. Perhaps Bolton had found another option for her. She’d check it out later, she thought and switched it to do not disturb.

“Sorry,” she apologised.

“Vinak, Hin bonus, 32 points, and challenger none,” the droid kept track of score handing the cards to the smug-looking Petrolian. 

“You shouldn’t have challenged me, girl,” he sneered.

“I won, _you_ challenged _me_ ,” she pointed out.

“Round two, call out your totals please,” the droid asked and picked up the dice.

This time she waited till he called out his total.

“13,” he shrugged scratching the back of his neck.

“12,” she tried again. She glanced at Cal but he seemed deep in thought.

The droid rolled. A few dice spun on their corners rapidly before landing, “4, 3, 3, 2, a total of 13, 16 points to Vinak and 12 points to the challenger.”

To win she was going to need a Taro. What had happened? Why wasn’t Cal using the force? Had all this been a way to get revenge and leave her with nothing? 

No, revenge was not the Jedi way.

But how did she even know he was a Jedi? She had never asked his back story, she had just seen his lightsaber and read his BOLO file and assumed.

No, he is one, her mind argued back. He had to be, his attitude, his hope that she was a survivor, and his kindness was proof enough.

Cal must want her to go for a Taro.

“Tough luck Little lady,” Vinak leant back in his chair confidently, “Cough up.” 

“As I said before, the Match isn’t over yet,” she stated.

“You really want to embarrass yourself? Fine,” he laughed and gestured to the droid.

“Final round, your totals please?”

“8,” Vinak shrugged with a laugh.

“24.” She glared at him.

Force, don’t let me down now please, she silently pleaded.

“Okay, here we goo-” the droid’s arm flicked wildly as if it had been jerk suddenly by an invisible pull, and the dice flung onto the floor and scattered.

“6,” Greez announced picking up one dice from his feet and depositing it on the table.

“6,” the Toydarian announced jovially as he picked up one and placed it on the table.

“No.” Vinak gritted in protest.

“6,” the Weequay picked up another dice and put it with the others. 

“There is no way you could have won,” Vinak tried to convince himself.

“It is also a 6,” Maz announce triumphantly as she placed the last dice on the table. The small crowd cheered in excitement.

“There is no way, it’s impossible!” Vinak screeched. “You cheated, you’re all in league!”

“Actually,” Cal spoke up and confidently walked towards Vinak, “You cheated, you’ve been cheating all morning,” Cal revealed. He leant over and reached behind Vinak’s back, pulling him up by the collar of his shirt.

“Unhand me, you kriffing nerd herder!” Vinak struggled as Cal pulled a small Micro remote from the back of Vinak’s collar.

“Hm wonder what this does,“ Cal smirked and pressed it, the dice spun rapidly and rearranged themselves to total 5. “Oh and this one?” Cal pressed the other button and the dice rearranged themselves to total 13. “You pick and choose when to cheat, knowing with these two numbers you could win most matches without suspicion.”

The crowd wore murderous expressions.

“Hey wait, fella’s, come on,” Vinak squeakily defended. 

“The winner of the pool is the challenger,’” the droid announced, “Pay her or suffer consequences.” 

“Please don’t take my winnings, how am I going to pay back these fine folk back?” Vinak begged nervously.

“With hard-earned, honest money?” Lytei suggested gesturing for him to pay up. Vinak was on the verge of tears looking at the angry faces. 

She scoffed, pathic. He deserved it, the cheat- she stopped herself. 

He cheated.

But they had cheated too, except Vinak was going to be ripped limb from limb for it.

She looked at the pile of chips, she needed it. She should leave him to learn a lesson. But another part of her looked at the pathetic creature in front of her and whispered, ‘Show Mercy.’

How could she expect her kids to become compassionate, caring and selfless if she set this example? What would Reed think if he saw her now? Had he taught her nothing? As much as she wanted to throw Vinak to the Ranclor so to speak, it wasn’t right.

Sighing heavily she stood up and stuck her hand out to him, “I’ll take a third of your pool, the rest you can keep to help yourself start to repay the people you wronged here today,” she dictated. 

Vinak nodded vehemently and shook her hand, “Thank you, thank you!” He scurried started to count up his winnings, and divide it.

“That’s 20,000 credits,” Lytei told him.

“What are you doing? Are you crazy!” Greez cried throwing his hands up in the air.

She chuckled, 'probably', she thought to herself.

Vinak nodded, “Half in hand and I'll transfer the other,“ he relented, handing over a bag of jingling coins and producing a data chip.

She pulled out her holodisk and frowned; 12 missed transmissions.

She turned it back to receiving mode as Vinak transferred the credits. Muttering her thanks, she pushed through the angry swarm that closed in on him, as he frantically handed the money back. 

Looking round the Cantina, her eyes met Cal’s smile. She smiled back before she could remember he wouldn’t be able to see it behind her mask. 

“Not bad for ‘Dumb luck’ hey?” He grinned.

Lytei walked up to him and stuck out her hand.

“Thank you, Cal,” She wished she could show him just how much he had helped her. He shook her hand firmly.

“I guess this is where we become Strangers again huh?” He said. She didn’t know why the way he said it made her heart twinge.

“Yeah I guess this is it, I hope I see you around, hopefully in better circumstances,” she joked.

“Likewise,” he admitted.

“Hey what about me?” Greez said.

She chuckled, “Thank you Greez, you have no idea how much you have helped me and my family.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t get back to your family?” He asked confused.

“My adopted family,” Lytei corrected.

“Well, I suppose we better get back to The Stinger Mantis, I gotta check everything is ticking along well after we took a few hits from that Troop carrier,” Greez patted her arm and she winced, pain shooting up her arm. “Oops sorry.”

“It’s fine,” she gritted.

“See you kid,” he waved with his two lower arms.

“See ya,” she waved back. 

Cal watched Greez go and he reached out and touched her shoulder, “I hope you find Reed,” he said hopefully, not knowing his words were like a knife to her heart. “May the Force be with you Lytei,” he farewelled. 

“And with you,” she replied as he turned and followed Greez. On his shoulders, BD beeped a soft tone and waved his scomp link up and down at her. She waved back watching as they exited through the doorway and out of her life. 

She should have felt relieved that Cal was gone, that she had finally gotten out of the ticking thermal detonator of a situation that was having a Jedi fugitive around her. However, she didn’t feel relieved; she felt sad.

Lytei would miss the Jedi.

“I am so sorry my dear,” Maz appeared beside her, “I know how close you were.”

“I barely know him- “ She began confused but realised she wasn’t talking about Cal.

“How’d you know?” She hung her head.

“When I first saw your eyes and I felt your wound, I piece the two together. I am sorry for your loss.” Maz guided her over to a chair near the kitchen entrance.

“I found out yesterday,” She hung her head. “The thing is…” she sniffed. Here it was, the moment she had been dreading. “I knew it happened soon after we got separated… Maz, I tried to get him back," she admitted, "I found out that the Inquisitors took their victims back to Nur, I went after them, but as soon as I entered the system, I could feel what they were doing to him Maz.” Lytei cracked. A tear ran down her face and peaked out from under her mask.

“Oh my dear,” Maz wrapped a short arm around Lytei’s torso. 

“I just couldn’t... it was... agony... it hurt too much," she swallowed shaking her head. "I wasn’t strong enough, Maz, I had to shut myself off from him, I had to... I had to get out of his projection range,” she confessed. “All this time I didn’t want to believe it, I didn’t want to feel that I had abandoned him, I foolishly hoped he got away," she sniffed, "When the truth is... I left him to die, alone.” She sobbed finally.

Maz leant back and took Lytei’s hands in her own, “There isn't anything you could have done.”

"I could've tried harder, I could've been stronger, I could have found other's to help, I- ” Lytei gritted through her tears.

“-And you probably would have died,” Maz told her, “And the child would have been without their guardian, and the Jedi would be without their future.”

“I just wished I could've told him we got away,” She sniffled, “Then at least he would have died with hope.” 

“The past is the past, my dear, no matter how horrible it may be you can’t change it, you can only change your future,” Maz reminded her, “And speaking of the future, how is your little one?”

Lytei sniffed up her tears and cracked the faintest of smiles behind her mask, “She is good, happy," she nodded before adding, "She loves animals, she’s always trying to bring a new one into the house, much to the disdain of my carpets, she’s about 5 now.”

“So does she have any brothers and sisters?” Maz asked with a twinkle in her eye.

Looking around the room she leant in closer and whispered, “6 of them.”

“My, you have your hands full, do you have help?” Maz asked with a warm smile.

“I have my droid and a nanny to help me,” She shrugged.

“Forgive me, my dear but that’s not the kind of help I was asking about,” Maz tilted her head in contemplation.

“No?” Lytei asked puzzled.

“I was talking about help from their own kind,” she looked at her with those old eyes.

"My nanny was in the Jedi service core, she's had some basic training," Lytei explained.

"Not who I had in mind," Maz implored. Lytei knew exactly what she meant.

“No, I can’t risk it.” Lytei shook her head.

“Why not? Cal is young, brave, caring, he’d be a perfect teacher and protector. It would do him some good too, give him hope,” Maz argued.

“I’m not looking to start something, I just want to keep them safe,” she explained, “Maz, they’re just kids, I just want them to grow up normally, have a choice rather than be forced into a life of suffering and servitude to the Empire, Forced into the Darkside.”

“But the time will come when they will need to choose and they will need a teacher,” Maz said, “You will have to trust someone eventually.”

Lytei wished she could trust Cal with her secret, ask for his help. She really did. It would be nice having someone to help her again, to not be alone. To have someone the kids could relate better to, someone who could teach them the things she couldn’t, but no matter what, it was too dangerous. If he was captured and interrogated, he would break, as they all did eventually. Then they would come for her and the kids, and she knew the cruel sadistic authorities within the Empire would send Cal to hunt them, if, he survived.

She had seen it happen before. It was personal. Padawans hunted their masters, Masters hunted their padawans, friends hunted friends, killers of friends hunted the prey that got away, just to further the hurt. 

“All it takes is one person to get captured, then it’s all over,” She explained. 

Maz hummed thoughtfully.

“So it is fear that stops you then?” The old woman deduced. "I don’t know all the Jedi’s ways, but I do know that fear is a path to the Darkside, trust is the way of the light, and fear can cloud our judgement, perhaps it is clouding yours, you should also bear in mind the children, they will learn what you teach them and if you teach them to fear, even subconsciously, they will become fearful,” Maz warned. Lytei furrowed her brow at the woman’s words.

A small alien with light blue fur and large ears came up to Maz and handed her a small box wrapped in some fabric and left without a word. Maz turned back to her and presented her with it, "A small gift, some Bondulli for when you are well again and Kapar Tea leaves, you said you missed it.”

“Maz, thank you so-” 

DE-RAA DEET DEET DEET DE-RAA DEET DEET

Her holodisk trilled again. That was a lot of transmissions for a short period of time. Even Bolton wasn’t that persistent. 

She suddenly got a bad feeling. 

A very bad feeling.

“I'm sorry Maz I’ve to take this I think it’s urgent," she apologised.

* * *

Cal was inspecting the relay antenna. It was the final thing on Greez's preflight checklist, they were now ready to go, but then, he felt it. He hopped down and looked down the dirt path. He sensed a disturbance.

“Hey Cal are we ready to go?” Cere called out from the ship. 

“Uh, yeah, just wait a minute,” he called back distracted. Someone was in a lot of distress.

“What is it?” Cere asked poking her head out off the landing ramp.

“I don’t know.” Cal frowned.

Merin join them on the landing ramp, “What are you guys-”

“Shh,” Cal held a finger to his lips, “Do you hear that?” 

“Hear what?” Merrin asked with a quirked eyebrow.

He heard someone running towards the ship. Twiggs breaking under their feet loudly as the came closer.

“Wait! Please!” A voice cried out as it ran towards them.

“Wait!” The voice got louder as Lytei came around the bend in the path running at top speed towards them. Her mask atop her head revealed her panicked face.

“Lytei what's wrong?” He asked her as she skidded to a halt in front of him and grasped his shoulders.

“I need your help, please,” She heaved frantically.

“Okay, I’ll help, just calm down, what's wrong?” He reassured her.

“Stormtroopers,” She exhaled, “You’ve got to help, they, they have arrested one of my kids back home.”

“Why would they do that?” He asked holding her upper arms trying to calm her.

“There are no charges, they’re refusing bail, they’re denying they even arrested him, but there are workers who saw it and andohicouldalivInquisstormgothimforcetitsmyfault” she explained rapidly.

“Oh my stars,” Cere remarked in shock. She seemed to know whatever _that_ meant.

"Lytei, look at me, take a deep breath okay?” He instructed. She took a gulp of air, and calmed herself. “Now tell me, slowly, why would they arrest your kid?”

"Because he used the Force in front of a Stormtrooper!" She cried.

“Ohhh,” Was all Cal could respond with. “That’s bad, that's real bad.”

* * *

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading I got some lovely comments and kudos I am glad that you guys like it. You're the best. It was real encouragement because I wasn't sure if people would like it.  
> let me know if you guys want to know more about in world stuff, cause most of it I am taking from cannon, but other bits I am making up. I can also answer questions in the comments if you have any.
> 
> Hintaro: is a cannon game that involves dice and gambling chips. but it's only been mentioned and pictured in comics in the background, it had no set rules on how to play it. So all the games rule are ones I took the liberty of inventing my self.


	7. Home is where the humidity is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After enlisting the crew of the stinger Mantis help, Cal and Lytei travel to Verkuyl and hatch a plan to rescue Lytei's ward Ido Ento.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for a torture scene and mentions of slavery

* * *

“Is he Reed's?” Cere asked out of nowhere as she guided her onto their ship. 

Lytei turned to her in shock.

"What?”

"Is Reed the father?” Cere asked again with a concerned expression.

“What? No! I was... we never. No! I-we that’s no- we weren't, I was 15!” Lytei scrambled to explain. 

How could Cere think that? Does she think I look older than I am? 

Or an even more terrifying thought: could Cere sense her feelings towards Reed?

Lytei decided it wasn’t possible, she had been told she was hard to read, Cere must have been confused by the way she had said ‘her kid’. Besides, her feelings for Reed weren’t strong feelings, not after four years of presuming he had died. Certainly not after his rejection before they were separated. 

“His name is Ido,” She told them, “He’s a Rodian, he turned 14 this year. If I did have a child with Reed they would only be four and Human… and we never... it was never… anyway, the point is, he’s not my biological child, I don’t have any children of my own, I’ve adopted a few though,” she detailed. 

“Lytei?” Greez poked his head out of the cockpit, “What are you doing here?”

“We got our next mission,” Cal told him and patted his shoulder. “Start plotting a course to Verkuyl.” 

“Verkuyl? That’s the middle of nowhere, actually not even the middle of nowhere, that’s the arse end of nowhere,” Greez threw up his hands in exasperation. 

“Hey, I know it’s a _chadush ton_ , but it’s my home so… just watch how you talk about it,” she told him. “My kids are in trouble, I need your help.” 

“You have kids?” Greez sputtered.

 _"Oritsur, Gar miyn Pa’ten ein dang_ …" She slapped her forehead, “Is everyone here, cause I don’t want to explain myself again,” she glanced around the lounge and counted the people in front of her before continuing, “I have a few adopted children, one or two may have been Jedi younglings…”

“Wait! What?” Cal frowned.

“You knew he was force sensitive, he didn’t just suddenly use it?” Cere interrogated.

“I knew you were hiding something!” Merrin exclaimed triumphantly. 

Greez gave Merrin a chastising look and whispered, “Not the best time for an ‘I told you so’ kid.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Cal asked. 

Lytei averted her gaze from his green eyes. “I wanted to, but for their safety, I couldn’t,” she said.

Only now was the weight of the situation bearing down on her. The Stinger Mantis’ crew was now fully involved; there was no turning back. 

Lytei exhaled deeply, “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to risk someone else knowing about their existence. The risk of getting captured especially for someone like you Cal-”

“-Hey,” Cal interjected.

“-I meant no offence, but someone knowing about them and getting interrogated… it would put my kids in danger,” she explained, walking over to the Navigation console.

“I would never, Lytei...” he began a sentence but abandoned it as a dark expression crossed his face.

“I trust you enough that you wouldn’t willingly betray us, Cal, same for all of you-” she swept her gaze across everyone there, “-But I know what happens to people they take there, trusting someone with that kind of information… was how Reed and I got separated in the early days before I learnt to be careful,” Lytei admitted with a grieved expression.

“If it’s so risky why ask for our help?” Merrin asked with a pointed look.

Lytei was not too grated by Merrin’s hostility towards her. She recognised a familiar attitude; Merrin had been burnt before; she had heard of the Nightsisters’ fate. The young Nightsister was just cautious and protective of her newfound family, and that was something Lytei respected. She realised Merrin would need time and that she would need to earn Merrin’s trust and respect.

She pulled up a holomap of Verkyul and magnified an inhabited quadrant. 

“I love a challenge as much as the next person, but I’m not game enough to stage a prison break and take on the Empire with only one good arm. So I need help there,” she explained and selected the Point of interest on the map; Inisfalen, the settlement that had been her home for the past four years.

“Ido will be held in the Magistrate Complex here, in the meantime, I need to get the rest of my family offworld and they are 14 klicks east here-.” she pointed to a section of coastline on the map, “-And time is not my friend. It won’t take much for the Imps to figure out something’s up with the 19-year-old human whose ID is shoddy, has half a dozen kids from all around the galaxy and one of them turns out to have been a member of the Jedi order… they’ll have stormtroopers out with Massiffs by three hours, a scout squad by 5 hours and by six, they would’ve notified the Governor and an Inquisitor and a squad of purge troops will be on their way.”

Lytei turned back to the crew and eyed Merrin in particular, “I need help and your crew is capable, trustworthy and has some vested interest in the fate of the Jedi’s future. I don’t have much time to find anyone else. I can pay yo-”

“There is no need for that,” Cal assured her, “I’m pretty sure I said that we’re in.” 

Greez looked up sheepishly, “Although some credits would be…” Cere silenced him with a stern look, “But hey… you’re basically family now am I right? Cal’s adopted you like every kriffing thing he encounters on his quests,” Greez saved poorly.

“So you propose we split up?” Cere brought their attention back to the task at hand.

“Yes.” She stood so that they could see the map while she pointed at it. “I'll give the Stinger Mantis coordinates of where my family is hiding, you'll pick them up and take them to safety… I don’t know where that is yet…”

“We’ll take them to Bogano, no inhabitants, uncharted, a good place to lie low for a while, not a permanent fix but good enough for a few days,” Cere suggested. 

Lytei nodded, “ _Ga bi’u-_ I mean... that’s great, sorry, I revert to Nulla when I’m stressed.”

“Hadn’t noticed,” Cal said sarcastically.

“Anyway, we'll be going to Inisfalen, a small settlement near the equator. We’ll approach the planet from this trajectory, that way we'll remain undetected by the spaceport and the population centre in the Dalos Peninsula, which will only leave Inisfalen’s landing control to deal with. By the time we get there it'll be a public holiday, so they'll be understaffed. With your ship, you can fly straight to the location as it's out of the way. My ship, however, can’t land on the landing pads there. It’s too risky, the shipping logs could record us or they might even have a BOLO on the Skalder by now. So, I'll take Cal and BD, and we'll land out at sea,” She pointed at a small grey island off the coast, “Beyond the reef here, there's an abandoned old tarmac, we'll land and propboard in. Then rescue Ido, BD will help wipe any records they have, then we get Ido's propboard, get back to the ship and Cal will direct me to Bogan-o.”

“I want to go with Cal,” Merrin stated.

Lytei thought carefully about her next words. 

Here was where those diplomacy lessons she found so boring at the academy came in handy.

Merrin valued family. If Lytei could show her that they had that in common, Merrin might empathise with her and Lytei would have a better chance of convincing her she was trustworthy. 

“If you really want to, be my guest, I just thought perhaps Cere and Greez would need your help if things got hairy," she said. 

“Hairy?” Merrin quirked an eyebrow.

“Uh… Troublesome? It's an expression we use on Nulnova, it's said in Basic though… Anyway, my point is… I'm trusting this crew to save my family. My family is the most important thing to me, to be honest, I don't like the idea of allowing their fate to be in the hands of people I just met. But the Jedi have gained my trust and respect because of what they did for Nulnova. I'm honoured to be able to repay them by protecting their future. I know Cal is a Jedi, so is Cere and I trust them, and by extension, who they choose to keep company with.

"I trust you to protect my family Merrin, Not only because of the Jedi's merit, but because I’ve heard that Nightsisters were formidable warriors. I’d want my family to be well protected when I can’t be there for them. It’d make me feel more comfortable if you were there with them."

“Okay,” Merrin nodded somewhat sceptically, "I will go on the Mantis, but if you have tricked us in any way-"

“You’ll dismember me?” Lytei smiled slightly. 

“Good, you seem to get the idea.” Merrin smiled back.  
“Okay it's a good plan, but just one question," Cal stepped up to the map. "When are you getting yourself to Polis Massa?”  
“I’m not.” She said.

“That’s dangerous, you could get some serious damage or even lose your arm kid," Greez warned.

Lytei shrugged lopsidedly and tried to pass the action off as painless, “It’s just a limb, I can get a new shiny cybernetic one, children though, not so much."

Although she did try, her attempt to defuse the crew's concern had failed. They all still had concerned looks on their faces. "Well I suppose we should get going then." She posited awkwardly.

"The sooner we do this the sooner we get that shoulder of yours looked at," Cal agreed and motioned for BD to jump on his back. "See you all on Bogano."

* * *

It took 11 hours to get there. They had stopped to refuel on Castilon to allow the Skalder to travel at her top speed. Cal couldn’t believe it. The Stinger Mantis was a full hour and a half behind them when they touched down on the grey, cracked duracrete island. 

It was raining. Not a rain like Cal was used to however. On Bracca, the rain had a vicious bite to it. It had this bitter cold that would soak through his rain poncho and seep into his bones. This rain was entirely different. He stood at the edge of the tarmac watching the dark thundering clouds roll towards them over the waves. 

This rain was warm. Cal found this not much more preferable to the cold rain on Bracca. Droplets were pelting down, but it did little to relieve the stifling humidity that surrounded them. He felt as though he was being steamed alive.

“Nice weather you’re having,” he remarked, flicking up the hood of the standard-issue raincoat Lytei had lent him. BD whined with apprehension as he stood under the shelter of the Skalder’s landing ramp.

“It is, isn't it?” Lytei said as she emerged out of the ship in a matching raincoat he had helped her pull over her shoulder moment before. She smiled holding her hand out, letting the rain collect in it. Cal chuckled, then he noticed her delighted expression. She was serious. She really thought this was good weather. 

"Nice and cool for our unacclimatized guests, a bit choppy on the water now, but this storm looks like it should blow over by the time we make our way back.” 

“If this is a good day I’d hate to see a bad one,” He said. Thunder rumbled in the distance and BD trembled. 

“Don’t worry BD, it’s only sheet lightning, I’ve got a portable depolarisation field, we’ll be safe,” She assured the droid holding up a round fist-sized ball with an antenna sticking out of the top. 

“You have to work in lighting storms often then?” Cal wondered aloud.

“Alazhi won’t wait for nice weather to be farmed, in this place, there’s less paperwork for a worker’s corpse than there is for a low yield season. Portable Delpolarisers are a good investment if you want to be alive long enough to receive your pension.” She reached behind her and pulled a slab of metal off her back and threw it to the ground. It expanded into an antigrav platform no more than a meter long. 

“I assume that’s a propboard?” He guessed and wondered how they would both fit on it.

“Yeah, this is standard farming equipment, all alazhi farmers have one, the crop is finicky, we can’t touch the ground where the plant grows, we’d contaminate the soil. The rainforest surrounding the plots we work is also too dense for speeders, trains and speeder bikes to get through. We needed something small to carry us and the harvest back to the compound, this was Verkuylian Bacta Co’s solution 20 years ago, and not much has changed since,” she explained as she fiddled with the board's control panel. A cargo sling twice the board's length sprung out from the underside of the board held in place by a ray projector. “Well I’ve tweaked mine, it goes about 5 times faster than it should, but it’s safe.”

Cal raised an eyebrow at her and side-eyed the contraption. He was beginning to have second thoughts. 

“Oh come on, you’ve ridden in the sling before,” she rolled her eyes.

“I gather I was unconscious?”

“Yes, but let me ask you, are you dead?” She asked with a smirk. 

He lent down and helped BD on to his back, “After the past few days I’ve had, I'm not so sure this isn’t some force vision I’m having as I fade away on the floor of that temple back on Jedha.”

“ _Billei lid,”_ she said, climbing up on the board and magnetising her boots.

“Bil-ay-id?” He asked. He took her hand and climbed into the sling. As soon as he was seated, he fastened one of the cargo restraints across his lap.

“BiIl-Lei-Lid,” she corrected, “It means; screaming Infant.” 

Without warning the Prop board shot forward at a speed he didn’t think possible for such a crude transport. Cal gripped the sides of the sling till his knuckles turned white. He let out a yelp as Lytei powered toward the back of a large breaking wave. She hollered as they launched over it, sailed through the air and crashed down on the ocean. Behind them, the wave they had just jumped began to tower over them casting a dark shadow. 

“Lytei, I think we need to go faster!” He yelled his warning above the drumming of the rain and rumbling thunder. 

“Trust me, in this weather we can't outrun it, we got to go with it,” she shouted.

“If we die, Merrin will reanimate us, then kill us again!” He screamed above the noise. 

“Just hold on! It’ll be flat as your nanna past the reef, just trust me!” Lytei banked a hard left and began travelling along the wave’s front in a diagonal line. Their world began to darken as the wave enclosed them, forming a tunnel. Ahead he saw the grey light of the sky slowly diminishing as the wave squeezed tighter around them. Lytei leant forward and propelled the board faster just when he worried that the wave would swallow them, they shot out the end and back into the storm, rain pouring down and the ocean spraying violently.

Cal let out a bark of laughter as he caught his breath. That was exhilarating.

Lytei chuckled and turned to him briefly, “You alive?”

“I’m pretty sure I am now,” he said.

"Bop vep fo whir ep!" BD whistled.

"Unbelievable," Cal laughed at the little droid.

“Sorry BD, we’re out of the break zone for a while, but we still got about five kays to go to the reef, maybe I can find another one to ride," she shouted and drove them up the back of the next forming wave. 

After many adrenaline inducing launches off the tops of waves and several close calls with being pummeled into the sea, Lytei pointed ahead to what looked like rapids. White foam was flying high into the air with every wave that reached it, sending back waves only slightly smaller than they came. It did not look good. 

“That’s the edge of the reef!” She shouted as thunder rumbled loudly above them. “We have to ride on top of a wave to get past that, there's a bit of a shelf that causes that break.”

“Can we go around it?”

“The reef’s drop off extends along most of the continent, so no,” she said, speeding up the board, heading to ride along with the wave in front of them. 

“Have you done this before?” He asked watching the reef’s edge get closer

“Not really, the weather has been a lot less stormy when I’ve done this, the waves are much smaller!”

That didn’t sound reassuring. 

Now perched on top of the wave the propboard sailed towards white water. 

“Hold on!” Lytei shouted as the wave began to break. She slowed their pace to try to keep from falling off the edge of the wave too soon. He gripped the sides of the sling for dear life as the wave began to descend.

“Oh poodoo!” Lytei uttered a curse as they came over the top of the wave and saw what was ahead of them. Cals eyes widened. A wave was forming in front of them and it was definitely bigger than the one they were currently riding on. And, it would collide with them before they made it over the reef’s shelf. 

BD let out a trembling boop. 

"Too right BD," Lytei spun the board around. She was going to try outrun the wave heading towards them. But he knew they wouldn't make it. Unless...

“Turn around!” He shouted.

“What! Are you crazy! We’ll be smashed!” She screamed back.

“Trust me, head towards it!” He said. Lytei looked at him with panic in her eyes but nodded. She swivelled the board around and started travelling towards the wall of water.

He took a deep breath and focused. He calmed himself and reached out. Cal felt everything; the force surrounding it all, holding everything around him in place, dictating its pace. He exhaled and opened his eyes. Around them, the raindrops became suspended in the air. The wave slowed to a crawl. The white angry wash bearing down on them slowed to a sluggish pace.

Lytei didn't miss a beat. She lent down pushing the thrusters at maximum, launching over the peak of the wave they were on currently and up the dense curtain of water that was descending, using it as a ramp. The propboard whined and sputtered running up the steep climb. As the raindrops began to fall faster and the wave picked up motion, They shot over the slowly forming peak and down the back of it onto the reef. 

The space around them returned to a normal pace and he sighed in relief 

“What was that?!” She cried. 

“The Force.” He answered.

“Oh is that all!” she said. "Can’t say I’ve seen the Force do that before!"

"It's kinda one of my specialities," he shrugged. They both fell into a silence as the ocean flattened out and the of the mainland loomed closer.

He really hoped the storm died down when they came back. On the way here they had been going with the waves. He couldn’t imagine going back against them.

* * *

Inisfalen was not what he expected. For starters, he had trouble seeing what Lytei was talking about when she said they were close to the compound as soon as they made landfall. All he saw was rainforest. All around him as they motored through the dense trees. But suddenly Lytei stopped and they hopped off the propboard and she collapsed it. 

"Were here. " 

He glanced around for buildings among the trees until suddenly, there were no trees. Just a gaping hole in the ground. Cal marvelled at the crater that extended down into an underground river about a hundred meters below. Suspended from the walls and the cavern ceiling were colourful hive-like buildings all interconnected with a network of platforms and boardwalks. 

"Are those buildings stalactites?" He marvelled.

"Yeah some are, others are built or just carved into the cavern walls. That one there, That's our house," Lytei pointed to a long narrow stalactite painted a dull dark blue, "...Well, it was our house."

He saw a mass of people buzzing around the large undercover platform in the centre of the compound. He saw flashes of colour as people threw confetti and waved banners around. Small stalls lined the sides of the boardwalks, with vendors that called out words which became one with the jumbled noise. He could even smell barbecued meat from here. 

"I can see why your kids were disappointed about missing the festival. It looks fun," he said. On his shoulder, BD hummed in agreement.

"It's the highlight of the year, everyone goes, which is good for us, cause that is our target-" she pointed to an outcropping building further down in the lower levels of the settlement bearing the imperial flag. "-The Imperial Magistrate Complex," she pulled out a pair of macro binoculars from a pouch on her utility belt.

“What’s the plan?”

"Well, first we get rid of the front desk guy, then use the terminal to find which cell Ido is in. Once we have that, we just get him out and delete evidence.”

"Just get him out?” He questioned sceptically.

"Yeah. Walk in there, smack some heads together, cut through the door, bust him out and leave, done!” She clapped her hands together to emphasise her point. 

"Easy.” He deadpanned 

"Well for you, yeah,” she switched to thermal vision as he frowned at her remark. "I count five Imps in the front half, I don’t know about the back, it's too far into the rock to get a reading.”

"Why don't we try and cut into the cell from the outside?”

“Well there are sensors in the wall, that would alert more than just the workers on shift, also it may not look like it, but it’s very well dug in, the complex extends into the cavern quite far. It would be hard to tunnel through that much rock. The only way in is the front door. If we take the guard on the front desk out, we can use the terminal to find the cell number and you can go get him while I stay and protect BD while he deletes any records, which shouldn’t be too hard, most records have been wiped by higher-ups to cover the Indentured Labour-”

“Indentured Labour? You mean, Slaves?” Cal asked. 

“I mean sure, I guess you could call us that,” she shrugged.

“Wait, you're a slave?”

“Well currently no, but contractually most of us were, we sign up for ten years, and in return for work we get a small pension, food, housing and a bit of healthcare. But now the Empire is nationalizing Verkuyl, so higher-ups are deleting all the worker’s contracts and data so that the whole operation looks ethical for the senate.”

“So you’re all free?”

“Yes and no, I’m free, my kids are free, but most people aren’t. The Imperial Workforce has taken over the contracting now, so those who have no way to get offworld or no way of sustaining themselves have to sign the Imperial contract, which is basically the same as the old one, but the pension is bigger to appease the senate, however, the work hours are increased and days off decreased.”

“So you’re telling me four years ago you sold yourself into slavery, with the kids?”

“Okay, not slavery, I didn't sell myself," she corrected him, "I entered a contract, I knew what I was doing. Indentured Labour means I don't receive as much money as I should, but I'm not a slave, I'm not someone's property. I left the kids out of it too, but when some of them got older and I found more children, they wanted to help out so they signed on for five year contracts."

Cal still looked at her with confusion.

"Hey look for a homeless 15 year old with dwindling funds who just became a single mother, free food and housing for ten years in exchange for work sounded like a really good idea,” she explained and looked back into the Binocs. “No one asked questions when I showed up at the recruitment office. I didn’t need an ID. The promise of 10 years of no one batting an eyelid at me and my family, was too good to pass up. It wasn't easy or safe work, but I worked hard, took jobs that would increase my pension so that when my contract ended, I’d have enough to leave. I imagine being a scrapper isn’t too different?”

He thought for a bit, “I guess, I mean we got paid, but it was bare minimum, I had hardly any savings, I spent it all on rent and food. I couldn’t afford to travel too far offworld. So maybe in a way I wasn't free-” 

“-Oh no, no no no!” Lytei groaned as she put down the binocs.

"What’s wrong?”

"Change of guard, the front desk is Officer Tamlin.”

“So?”

“He's the nice one, he knows me personally,” she groaned

“ _So_?” He asked again.

“So, this complicates things,” she huffed in annoyance, “If he sees you and me working together, when Inquisitors come to investigate you, he can ID me, he knows my relation to Ido too, he’d tell any investigators about Ido and my family situation. They'll connect Ido's case, my case and your case. And the last thing we need is for them to work out that we've put all the eggs in one basket… I also don't want to hurt him... He’s been really kind.”

He agreed, ‘all the eggs in one basket,’ as Lytei had so eloquently described, was not a situation he wanted to find himself in again.

So what options did they have? She had left her mask behind, saying it would draw more attention. Her face was so familiar around here and she could blend in seamlessly. She even said she purposefully spoke with a thick accent and pretended to have trouble speaking Basic to seem like she did not comprehend most of what people said. With this Lytei had created an almost invisible character, no one thought twice about the quiet young woman who seemed to run a de facto orphanage. No one would suspect her capable of anything like what was about to go down. 

He eyed her thoughtfully, “So… how well _do_ you know Officer Tamlin?”

"Urgh, not _that_ well, he just helped me with getting an extension to move,” she said with disgust. 

“I wasn't asking to be a gossip… I think I have a plan,” he grinned, "How good is your acting?"

"I learnt from the best," she said.

"Really, who?"

"Politicians."

* * *

She turned her com open and put on her best worried expression, which wasn’t too hard. Raindrops dripped off her coat, splashing onto the tiled floor as she passed through the automatic doors and hurried up to the front desk, purposely leaving her hood up. 

“Oh, Miss Acko, I thought you left, nice to see you still with us, Enjoying the festival? What can I help you with?” Officer Tamlin smiled at her but frowned slightly when he saw her expression.

“Officer Tamlin, please, help me, you see my nephew in here? Yes?” She asked.

Cal on the other end of the muted com nodded to BD, “She’s pretty good, she could at least make one of those holoshows like _Offworld and Onworld_ don’t you think?”

BD chittered his agreement.

“Are you here to lodged a missing person report?” Tamlin asked with concern.

“I look everywhere, his workmates say he was arrested… I tell them not my Ido, he’s a good boy. Please I must know if true, if he no in your cells….I want report to make.”

“Okay, now she’s laying it a bit thick,” Cal commented from his perch on the maintenance platform on the roof.

“I just came on shift, so, I haven't seen who's in the lock-up yet. Do you know what he could have been arrested for?” The officer opened up his terminal and logged in. Lytei coughed over the com; that was the signal. 

“Okay BD, see what you can do about those cameras,” Cal watched the small droid get to work accessing the maintenance port with his scomplink. He listened back to Lytei’s conversation.

“No I don’t know, no one knows, it’s got to be a mistake, he’s a good boy… he has been so helpful teaching me Basic and helping with the younger children… he never gets in trouble.”

“Okay what’s his name? Our records are spotty at the moment with the transition but if he’s in the lock-up he’ll be here.”

“Oh thank you, thank you, his name Ido Ento," Lytei told him and he entered the name into the search, "He's Rodian, light green skin more like a... like a yellow-green… he work on plot 324.”

The terminal let out an annoying buzz and the officer looked up at her with a nervous expression. ‘Yu bi'u ti’ Lytei inwardly sang.

"Umm…” Tamlin stared at her. She could tell he was torn between telling her the truth and his duty to the empire. He chose the Empire. “He's not in the- ahh umm, the system so… he isn't here. So, our options from here are to lodge a report and put out a notice for Ido.” 

She began to count down from ten, slowly. Her thoughts became sadder with each number, an acting technique one of the Miner’s on Dinzo had taught her.

“Do you have any holostills or photographs-”

Three… two… One.

Lytei burst into tears and sobbed loudly.

Cal frowned, “Is she actually crying BD?”

The droid checked the footage on the camera before shutting it off, “Bewo. Veepa wo.”

“Wow, tears? Really? I think Lytei missed her calling in life.”

“Please officer, Can you just check the cells at the back… please, maybe the system isn't updated yet…” she sniffled. 

“Oh our systems are fine… he's not here-”

She looked up at him and let out another ugly sob, “Please can you check?”

He looked around uncomfortably, then reached across the desk and, thankfully, patted her right shoulder. 

“Okay. I will check, If it will put your mind to rest.” he stepped out of the desk area and motioned for her to wait there. “I won’t be a moment.” He swiped his identichip and walked through the backdoor to at least pretend to check the cells. As soon as his back was to her she leant over the counter and looked at the open file. 

Ido Ento: Prisoner 03826.

"Cell allocation IC4: isolation and dangerous prisoners cell. Do not notify civilians of holding. Deny all visitation rights. Do not interact with the prisoner." She read to Cal over the com. “Sound about right to you?” 

“Yeah sounds like our boy,” Cal unmuted the com. 

A notification appeared on the screen. Lytei reached over and opened the attachment.

"Hang on, new orders just came through." She relayed, “It’s a memo from the governor marked urgent.”

She let her eyes read over it.

> Urgent Orders concerning Prisoner 03826.
> 
> Do not approach the prisoner. Do not talk to the prisoner. Detain all known associates of the prisoner if safe to do so. A special unit has been dispatched from the Artavis Sector. Eta 3hrs. Recognise this special unit as superior powers, surrender all case information to them. This case is no longer under your jurisdiction.
> 
> By order of the honourable Moff Gernald Aprim
> 
> Governor of Stensen Minor Sector.

She sighed, "We have inbound Inquisitors, they’ll be here in three hours, and they've issued an order for my family's detention," she summarised.

She lent over and dismissed the notification and deleted it. She sure hoped Tamlin didn’t go through the deleted files regularly. She heard the door beep and she jumped back to her position in front of the desk. The door slid open and Tamlin walked in with his head hung.

"I'm sorry Miss Acko, he’s not in our cells,” he lied.

"What should I do?" She lamented.

"Well, I’ll put out a notice to our officers, but you should go to the festival look around there for a while see if he is there, try to relax, if he’s not there, come back tonight with some photos or Holostills and well work on a missing notice together, but don't worry yourself, I’m sure he'll turn up.” He walked over to her, placed a comforting hand on her back and guided her towards the door.

Cal jumped down as the door opened and sprung forward roughly grabbing Lytei and igniting his lightsaber as he pulled her to his chest holding it at her throat. Lytei let out a small scream; enough to appear frightened but quiet enough that it wouldn't alert the guards at the back of the complex.

"Get over there in that corner!" Cal demanded. Tamlin stood frozen in shock.

" _Keth! Moi wasa ne!_ … kinslayer! Jedi _chadush_!" Lytei feigned a struggle and stamped on his foot.

"Squirm or scream and I'll…I’ll gut you," He said unconvincingly. Tamlin made a run for the front desk and Cal reached out and threw him against the wall with the force.

"What do you want! We have nothing here! Let her go! She's a civilian!"

"I'll let her go at the nearest spaceport as soon as I am sure no one has followed me. She is my assurance. If you pursue me, I will kill her.”

"The Empire doesn't negotiate with terrorists!" Tamlin struggled.

"I’m not negotiating," Cal said and slammed Tamlin’s head into the wall and dropped his body in a heap on the ground.

Once he was sure Tamlin was unconscious he let go of Lytei. "You okay?"

"Yeah, your grab was a bit rough on my shoulder, but it looked convincing, your dialogue needs a little work though," She critiqued sarcastically.

“It wasn’t too bad, was it?”

“no, I guess it’s not your fault mate, you don’t look very intimidating,” she laughed. “Hey BD, help me with this terminal.” BD jumped off Cal’s back and climbed up on the desks connecting with the port. “You better get going we have a deadline now, I’ll guard the front door.”

“Good, I’ll be back with Ido soon as I can,” Cal nodded and picked up Tamlin’s identichip and opened the backdoor.

* * *

“Did you see this man?” The modulated voice asked holding up Cal Kestis’ picture on the datapad.

“Yesss, yess he was there, he cheated me of my money with the woman,” Vinak informed the Third Brother. The Captain stood behind them and watched as his superior questioned the slimy petrolian. The Cantina was almost empty now. As soon as they had landed the scum had scampered, now only a few brave patrons stayed trying to mind their own business. 

“This woman?” The Third Brother held up the datapad again this time with a sketch of a young woman. Under his helmet, the Captain frowned. He had rarely seen sketches made of someone's appearance.

“I don’t know, she wore a mask, I guess she could have looked like that,” Vinak shrugged.

“Did she have a mask like this?” The Inquisitor held up a coloured sketch of the fugitive’s mask

“Yeah that’s it, she didn’t take it off, spoke like a droid she did, took all my money, the skag,” Vinak grumbled. “She was the one that had the ship that matched that description you're looking for.”

“Did she give a name?”

“No. About the reward-”

“So tell me, Vinak,” The Third Brother began pacing. That wasn’t good. He knew that that meant he was frustrated. “Was she with the man?”

“I didn’t think so at first, but when she won that hintaro match I was sure they were working together.”

”Can you tell me anything about where they went?” 

“They split up. They said goodbye. The boy left with a Lateron and she stayed back and for a bit took a holocall and bolted off.”

“A holocall with who?” 

“Some woman, I don’t know, someone had been arrested.”

The Third Brother stopped pacing in front of Vinak and bent down to his level, looking him in the eye, “Is that all the information you have for me?”

“Yes,” Vinak nodded. “Now how would I go about receiving the reward? I'm a bit short on credits right now, I need the- Argh!” Vinak cried out as the Third Brother stretched out his hand. Vinak’s eyes bulged and he began screaming. In what The Captain interpreted as an attempt to get the pain to stop, the petrolian smacked his head violently against the table. Everyone who was still in the cantina refused to look in their direction. 

The Captain had no idea what the Third Brother was doing to his victim, but whatever it was it was effective. He was fascinated by the use of the Force but disgusted at the same time. Seeing Inquisitors use the Force was always a grim reminder of his purpose; to keep force users like them from terrorizing the Empire. He picked a spot on the wall and focused on it. No one would know he wasn't watching the disturbing display, his helmet hid his eye line. 

Blood began to pour out of the Pertolian’s smashed face as he gurgled nonsense.

Tilting his head to the side the third brother nodded, “I believe you, and also I believe your financial troubles have been solved.” A glowing red blade pierced Vinak’s chest, ending his sufferings.

The blade retracted and the inquisitor looked up at him. 

He straightened up and awaited orders. 

“Both parties were here and left a few hours ago, the girl was most likely trying to win fuel money, we’ll start there,” the Third Brother instructed as he stormed out. 

It took him a few seconds before he ordered his fellow troopers to follow him out of the scum hole.

As they marched back to their ship the Third Brother turned back to him.

“I sense something troubles you Captain, what is it?” the scrutinizing red orbs bored into him. To lie would be pointless.

“Why don’t we have a photo of the female Sir?” He asked as an attempted deflection 

"No current photos exist of her, her homeworld’s culture dictates that she must never be seen without the customary face paint. There is no photo we can use that reveals her face after the age of 9, we have to go off her last known appearance from a case file. But that is not what you wanted to ask me is it?”

“Sir how did you get an artist to render a sketch of her mask and appearance on such short notice?” he asked now with genuine curiosity. 

“I drew it myself, Captain.”

“You sketch sir?” He frowned. 

“When necessary captain. Is that amusing to you?”

“No sir, just surprising.” The Third Brother was a sketch artist? But then again, everything about the Third Brother was a mystery, even what he looked like under that helmet. “Where did you get this description for the sketch?” 

“From one of her associates, I copied it from a sketchbook he had in his possession, I extrapolated her features to account for her age now,” he announced and walked up the landing ramp. "But I sense you are intrigued, perhaps disturbed by what I did back there with Vinak, yes?"

"Yes sir," he admitted.

"It was an interrogation technique. If you survive long enough to work with me a few more missions, you will see it is one of my talents," he explained somewhat vaguely. He sat down and pulled down the inertia harness for take-off. “Once we’re in orbit, I want a report from all our agents at fuel stations within 5 parsecs of this system,” he ordered. 

The Captain checked his datapad and saw a notification that might interest the inquisitor. 

“Sir, the Fourth Sister has been dispatched to Verkuyl, an adolescent was arrested, they have a positive DNA match from the Jedi temple’s database, a youngling; Ido Ento,” he reported.

“A Jedi youngling?” 

“Yes sir.”

“Has this youngling been in our custardy before?”

“Yes sir, along with two unidentified younglings, all escaped four years ago, the transport carrying them was attacked, the surviving pilot said the perpetrator was a masked Jedi,” he reported.

The Third Brother blankly stared at the closed landing ramp.

Slowly he turned back to him, “Tell me, Captain, do you believe in coincidences?”

“Are you suggesting the arrest Vinak overhead, is the arrest of this Ido Ento?”

“I am, set a course for Verkuyl,” he ordered. 

The Captain frowned, “Sir isn’t Kestis our priority?”

“Oh he is, but I have dealt with the girl before, she is predictable,” The Inquisitor said with confidence, “She always ends up trusting someone to help her and that is her downfall, She'd be stupid to attempt a jailbreak alone with her wounds, and given her determination to leave Takodana so soon I doubt shes managed to heal them by now, I am certain she has enlisted Kestis’ help. And from what I’ve read of Kestis’ profile, he would not have thought twice about helping her. We will find them and their companions on Verkuyl.”

The Captain, as always, nodded and silently turned to relay the orders to the pilot, trying not to think too hard about his Superiour’s reasoning. 

* * *

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading. You're the best. sorry for taking so long to update I just started uni again so life is crazy right now. ALSO the announcement that a sequel is in the works is amazing and hopefully revive the fandom a bit, I felt like it was starting to die off.  
> Let me know if you guys want to know more about in world stuff, cause most of it I am taking from cannon, but other bits I am making up. I can also answer questions in the comments if you have any. Also let me know your thoughts on the 3rd brother, how are you liking him? Is he terrifying? 
> 
> Verkuyl: is a cannon planet located within the Verkuyl system of the Outer Rim Territories where alazhi was grown. The planet was basically one big Batca factory and all the labour was indentured, sometime after the clones wars the planet became nationalized into the Empire and the Imperials took over, in this process workers records and contracts were deleted to make the planet appear more wholesome to the Senate. Read more on Wookieepedia [Here](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Verkuyl)


	8. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two missions are undertaken by the Mantis' crew and Lytei to escape the planet of Verkuyl. While Greez, Cere and Merrin evacuate Lytei's family, Cal and Lytei break Ido out of prison. But not far behind is the third brother, and he finds out something quite interesting about his prey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooff guys.  
> Trigger warnings: violence, order 66 flashbacks, PTSD, Torture, Interrogation, Fight scene, murder.  
> let me know if I've missed something.

* * *

"Mother of Moons look at them," Greez exclaimed in awe. Storm clouds had parted and let the orange haze of the sunset peak through the clouds, illuminating the dotted cliff face. Some of the sea caves looked big enough to fly a ship through but most could easily accommodate an average person's height. Greez set the ship down on the beach in front of the cliffs.

"Lytei said she sent them a message, they should be expecting us," Cere opened the landing ramp. He looked out of the viewport he couldn't see anyone. Greez frowned. 

What were they waiting for?

"We have a transmission," Merrin called from the lounge. 

The holo table projected an image of a young woman dressed in loose-fitting trousers and a wraparound shirt. Cere could see that the woman's arm raised in greeting was cybernetic. Her shiny black hair cut just below her ears bounced as she nodded at them.

"Thank you for coming, we are very grateful, it's good to know we still have allies in dark times like this," she greeted.

"Happy to help, I’m Cere, this is Greez and this is Merrin, and you are?"

"Nilsa," she offered, "I’ve heard that you stopped in from Iego."

"What no we-" Greez frowned.

"That's right, we ran freight from Dulga Prime yesterday," Cere replied calmly.

"Sorry I had to make sure Lytei sent you, I've been monitoring Imperial coms all day and it's getting busy, we've really spooked them."

"You have a code?" Merrin questioned thoughtfully. 

"A necessary precaution," Nilsa answered. "Are you ready for us to board? We have some luggage to take with us."

"Yes we'll come and help you with, I got hands to spare," Greez chuckled.

Nilsa and a teenaged Chagrian hung around the mouth of the cave peering out at the ship. A few small heads poked out of the dark caves peaking at the visitors before the young woman ushered them back. From the brief glimpse of heads, he observed there were quite a few children who were young, very young. Perhaps he should have childproofed the ship a bit more?

"How many kids did Lytei say she had?" Greez asked. He wanted to help but he also couldn’t help but worry about his ship. It had breakables and the upholstery was expensive. 

"A few," Cere said vaguely. None of them could remember if Lytei had specified how many passengers they would have.

Nilsa reappeared carrying large duffle bags under each arm and was closely followed by the blue-skinned Chargrian sporting a backpack and carrying a large crate. 

"The older children can bring the luggage down and I can help pack it in your hold," Nilsa suggested, dumping the bags down near the ramp. 

"I can help you ferry stuff down here, I don't even know where the cargo hold is,” Merrin offered. 

"Thank you Merrin, it would also be good for the children to meet you… this is Reth.”

She introduced the teenaged girl as she put the crate down. Nilsa placed a hand on her shoulder, "Tell the others to bring what they can carry and see if you can convince Neri to let the jippers go, take Merrin with you.” Reth nodded, her blue lethorns swinging around her shoulders as she gestured for Merrin to follow her. 

Greez huffed and picked up the crate. The box was marked: _kitchen_. The clinking and clattering also suggested the box was filled with pots, pans and cooking utensils. 

They must have been ready to leave the moment Lytei got back if they had been this organised.

Cere grabbed a duffle bag and they both began to walk around the outside of the ship to the cargo hold compartment. 

“Is there anything you need from these, you won’t be able to get to them until we set down on Bogano, it's a 56 hour flight?”

“No these are household items and spare clothes, the children have packed essential kits for themselves.” She answered by picking up the two bags with her cybernetic arm and following his lead. “I heard that you’re Jedi, or allies Lytei didn’t really specify,” Nilsa began conversationally.

“Cal is, I used to be, and Greez and Merrin are friends, allies as you say. What about you? Lytei isn’t a Jedi but she seems to have some connections to the Order, how do you fit in that story?”

“I was in the Service Core,” she revealed. 

Greez frowned, “Service Core of what?” 

“The Jedi Service Core,” Nilsa clarified.

“So not all Jedi are knights?” Greez asked as he packed the crate into the hold. 

“Those who choose not to become knights or aren’t selected can leave the Order or join the different Service Cores,” Cere explained.

“So, you escaped the purge then?” Greez asked. 

“No, no one in the Core did,” Nilsa said quietly. Cere hung her head.

"Oh… sorry," Greez apologized. "How'd you end up here then, you know, if you don't mind?" He asked curiously. They rounded back to the front of the ship and collected the next load of stuff.

Nilsa gathered her thoughts, "I don't really know why the Force chose to let me survive, guess maybe this is it," she gestured around her. "I was in the humanitarian core, helping out in the villages of Kashyyyk. We all felt _it_ happen, but we didn't know what _it_ was until the dropship that was scheduled to pick us up came a day early.

“ At first we didn’t think anything of it, but then clones rounded us up, dragged us out of tents, away from our work and started testing us, taking blood samples... I guess whatever they were looking for, I made the cut. They pushed me and my friend Jussip to the side and shot the rest right there. I tried to stop them by pulling a tree down on them,” She sighed and looked at her metal arm. “They blasted it clean off.”

“Kriffing hell,” Greez murmured. 

Nilsa continued to speak as they trudged around back to the cargo hold. 

“Jussip and I were sent to a labour camp. After about a year and a half, a group of us attempted a jailbreak. I was the only one who made it out and managed to stowaway on a freighter," she recounted and put down the box with the others in the hold. "I didn’t even know where I was, where I had been, but the Force must've been guiding me, cause the ship stopped on Takodana. I met Maz there, and she told me there was a safe house for people like me on Verkuyl, and well, here I am.” 

"A safe house for people like you?" Cere questioned. ”Are you saying every one of those children are Force-sensitive?" 

"Did Lytei not tell you?" Nilsa winced, “Maybe I wasn't supposed to let that slip...”

They watched as a group of children ran out of the cave and scrambled down the sand dunes laughing as a teenage boy chased them. Behind them came Merrin, Reth, a medical droid and a human boy holding an orange tooka cat. Greez watched Nilsa smile sadly while the younger children raced each other to the ship.

"How many passengers are we taking?” He wondered out loud.

"Myself plus the 6 children, the droid and the tooka cat," Nilsa explained grabbing the only box left labelled medical _supplies/camp_ _gear_ and walked off to put it in the hold. 

56 hours with 6 children? He was not looking forward to that. But what else could they do?

“She managed to save this many, and she isn’t even one of us,” Cere whispered quietly to herself more than to him.

Reth and Merrin walked up to them, “That’s everything.” 

A young Togruta tugged on Reth's sleeve, "But what about the jippers?"

"Neri, I’ve told you, you can’t bring the jippers, they belong in the wild." Reth rubbed her forehead. Merrin cracked a sly smile.

"But they like my crackers. They'll go hungry if I leave them.” Neri argued.

"Neri they’re just being lazy okay? They can get food by themselves okay?” Reth sighed. 

Merrin crouched down to Neri’s height and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, “Space is cold, I don’t think the jippers would like it.”

Neri huffed giving Merrin a sceptical look then turned back to Reth, "Can I bring just one?”

"Neri no, you’re already bringing Riggy and he’s the animal that needs you most, the jippers will be happy here.” Reth patiently explained. Neri pouted but nodded. “Now go get the other’s and tell them to come here, we’re leaving soon.” Neri ran off to get the others as Nilsa returned.

As they gathered in, Nilsa seemed to count them with her eyes, “Children, I want you to meet Greez,” she gestured to him and he waved all four of his hands, earning a giggle from the younger children. “This is Cere.”  
“Hello children,” Cere smiled at them.

“And you’ve met Merrin-” A young Tholothian girl raised her hand excitedly, “Yes Tullin?”

“Where is Aunty Tay’s boyfriend?” She asked.

Nilsa raised an eyebrow, “Miss Acko doesn't have a boyfriend Tulin-”  
“Yes she does! I saw him last night, Weg and Neri did too, on the holo. You were there Aunty Nilsa,” Tulin explained.

Nilsa sighed, “That‘s not Miss Acko’s boyfriend okay, his name is Cal and he is helping her get Ido back. Okay, I want you all to line up and as you get on the ship say your name to introduce yourself and so I can make sure everyone’s here, please sit where these people tell you.” She instructed before hoisting her backpack on her back and entering the Mantis.

“Where are we going?“ The teenaged human asked.

“Alright kiddos, uh... We’re going to a planet called Bogano, I can show you on the start charts if you want… um…”

“Cade,” he introduced and stepped up to the ramp. 

Merrin gestured for him to follow her.

Reth stepped up along with what Greez believed to be a young Lurmen perched on her shoulders. 

“Reth," she sounded off more for Nilsa's benefit then there's.

“I’m Weg,” the small furry alien greeted them with his unusual and chipper accent as they walked past. 

“Tulin!” the Tholothian girl called out as she ran past them into the ship. Behind them, the medical droid walked alongside a human boy, with red hair, much like Cal’s.

“They have named me Bolton, I am a 2-1B medical droid, I have numerous programs to assist in the wellbeing of over 1000 species, and this is master Orv, he has been experiencing some hypersensitivity of late and he has elected not to vocalise at the moment,” Bolton explained. 

Greez tilted his head at the child trying to catch his eye, but the boy stared resolutely down at his feet.

Finally Neri, the tiny Togruta waddled up the ramp dragging the tooka cat with her.

“I’m Neri and this is Riggy,” She smiled. Cere smiled back at her and scratched Riggy's ear. The tooka cat looked at him with what he perceived to be contempt and hissed at him.  
Greez deflated as soon as he turned and saw the child pull the cat up onto the sofa.

“My pertoli weave upholstery!” He whined.

Cerre chuckled, “Greez?”

“Yeah?” He sighed as he closed the ramp behind them.

"It's just a chair.” Cere patted him on the shoulder.

* * *

  
  


He exhaled out as he deactivated the blade, letting the last stormtrooper's body fall to the floor. He hated the feeling after the blaster fire stopped and he saw them lying there. 

The experience with Officer Tamlin hadn’t helped. Tamlin had been fed lies, he didn’t know any better, the troopers he had killed probably didn’t either. When Tamlin woke up he would find the carnage and his beliefs would only be cemented further.

“Hey, you okay? It’s gone quiet back there.” Lytei’s voice checked in over the com. 

“Yeah, all good, what cell number is it again?” He asked, stepping over the unlucky trooper who had opened fire on him. On the other end he heard a heavy sigh; one that could be in relief or annoyance. 

“IC4, BD’s got the map up here, it should be down the hall to your left and second on the right. Looking at the schematics, it looks like there's some kinda trip sensor in the door, so don’t cut it, find a key card or something.” She instructed.

“Will do, how are you and BD doing?” He asked, turning left into a block of cells with ray shielded doors. Definitely the right place.

“BD’s erased our data, I asked him to see if he could glean something from the governor’s memo, thought that maybe we could find something on the Inquisitors they're sending, you know, ‘know your enemy like you know yourself’ kind thing,” She impersonated the posh Coruscanti accent many of the Imperials had. He chuckled and stopped in front of the cell marked IC4.

“I found it,” reported, then looked to the keypad beside the door controls, “I need a code.”

“We’ll find it in the database,” she began.

“Don’t worry-” he reached out and touched the keypad and closed his eyes- “I got it.” 

In his mind, echoes of a boy’s shouts rang over the ghost of fingers entering 1234321. The Verkuylian Imperial forces certainly weren’t the brightest. 

“What they just left a note lying about in the breakroom with the password?” Lytei asked sarcastically.

“Something like that,” he grinned and entered the code into the door and hit open. 

“Hey, Cal?”

“Yeah?”

“Be Careful, Ido is-”

“Arggghhh!” Cal ducked as a young Rodian lunged at him as soon as the door opened, swinging a fist at his head

He sensed Ido’s intention to throw another one to his stomach. Cal blocked it by sidestepping out of the way and swinging Ido into the wall beside the cell pinning the boy there.

“I’m with Lytei, we’re here to rescue you,“ Cal explained.

“Lytei?” Ido stopped struggling. 

“Yeah, here,” Cal stepped back from him, opening the com. 

"Ido?" Lytei’s voice questioned.

“Y-you came back for me?” Ido asked.

“What kind of question is that? Of course I came back for you!” Lytei sounded almost offended. 

“I thought you’d be angry at me, for using it, you know?”

“Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m as mad as a cut moleworm that of all days, you choose the one I wouldn’t be here to get caught, but what's done is done, We all knew that this would happen one day. You can tell me what happened later, right now we gotta go okay? Oh this is Cal,” she said and he gave Ido a small wave. “Meet me in the reception, we got one more stop before we can get off this rock, and quickly before someone find’s this mess.”

“Let’s not keep her waiting," Cal broke into a light jog and Ido followed suit.

“Uh you probably know but I’m Ido, sorry for trying to punch you.” Ido apologized.

“Don’t sweat it. I would’ve done something similar,” He grinned back at him as they rounded the corner and met the bodies strewn across the floor. He heard Ido gasp beside him.

“You’re a Jedi?” He said in awe as he noticed the still steaming lightsaber burns.

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“I knew we weren’t all that was left," he murmured as light sparked in his eyes; hope. He felt his mouth twitch up. 

They came through the doors and Lytei was standing there with BD perched on her back. As soon as she saw Ido she walked up to him and pulled him into an awkward one-armed embrace.

 _“Myin paka moi piri la'yup nu,”_ she said in her first language and pulled back examining him, _“_ Are you okay? Did they hurt you? What happened to your eye?”

“I’m fine,” he assured her, “They just ruffed me up a bit.”

“Did you delete the files BD?” Cal asked as the group exited the building. BD whistled in confirmation.

"He downloaded some other files too. We gotta run decryption on them yet, but it could be some intel from the Governor's office." BD hopped off Lytei's back and scampered over to a data port near the door.

“Good thinking BD, that'll give us a bit more time to get out of here,” he praised and followed as Lytei guided them cautiously around the boardwalks.

The lamp posts along the railing had automatically turned on since the sun had set half an hour ago.

“Where are we going now?” Cal asked Lytei.

“Our house, we need to get Ido’s Propboard, mine won’t be fast enough if it carries all of us," She explained.

He sensed the footsteps of two people ahead. 

“Get back,” he quietly instructed, sticking his arm out and ushering them behind a wall. A couple laughed as they walked by. “How far to go?”

“Not far,” she whispered, nodding up above them to the blue stalactite building. “Just up the stairs but we got to skirt around the plaza.” 

There was a loud bang as someone let off a pyro rocket. Above their head, a large purple burst filled the sky. There was a loud cheer from the plaza as more rockets were let off. Cal found himself smiling slightly as the sky sparked with light and colour; beautiful.

“Lytei?” Ido asked behind him with a hint of concern in his voice. “Lytei, you're kinda hurting me.” Cal turned to see Lytei frozen, clutching Ido’s arm, her knuckles white as bone.

“Sorry, sorry,” Lytei awoke from her trance and removed herself from the boy’s arm.

He knew that distant look all too well. Seeing stuff like that affected everyone, even someone who seemed as strong-willed as Lytei. He gave her a knowing nod.

“You okay?” he asked. 

“Yeah, fine, let's just go, while everyone’s distracted," she shook her head and let out a stuttered breath. 

The group moved quickly up the stairs and passed the crowd gawking at the pyro show. Lytei jumped as one rocket exploded much louder and lower than the others. 

"It's okay," Ido laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I know," she winced in pain and Ido retracted his hand. "I know, it just… happens."

"What happened to your shoulder?" Ido frowned.

"It’s a long story and we got a long flight ahead of us to discuss that," she told him. Cal kept the hood of his rain jacket up as they crossed the last section of boardwalk to Lytei's house

"Well, you have to hand it to the Imps, they know how to put on a good Pyro show." Ido tried to lighten the mood. Lytei snorted.

"This is nothing, you should see a space battle from the surface at night. I used to watch them when I couldn't sleep. For something so chaotic and awful, from a distance, they looked so beautiful." She reminisced, taking out a data key, "And it was silent," she added as an afterthought and opened the door.

He couldn’t relate. He’d only seen a space battle from his viewport on a battle cruiser, and they certainly weren’t beautiful from up there.

Cal stepped into the house and glanced around the round room. It was a narrow house but it seemed to have multiple levels as there was a staircase that spiralled around the room leading to a level above and a level below.

"Go, get your board from the workbench," Lytei instructed and Ido nodded running down the stairs. "Just wait here, watch the door, I'll be back in a tick," she said and ran upstairs.

Cal stood in an alcove next to the front door where one could put their mud-stained clothes at the end of the day. Beaded curtains separated what seemed to be a living room and kitchen on this floor. 

There was not much left inside, there were items of furniture but nothing personal or homey was left. It appears they didn't own much if they could pack it all away on short notice.

The sound of Lytei hacking at the floorboards above was drowned out as he let himself sense the echoes in the force around him:

Shadows of children playing hide and seek. Children’s laughter. Mouthwatering smells of food being cooked on the wood-fired stove. The antics of young children refusing to go to bed, demanding stories.

Comfort. Safety. Home. 

But then there were small blips in the surroundings. 

Brief moments where someone would remember that this would not last. Moments when someone awoke from a nightmare. Moments where they were filled with unease and thought; ‘when will they come for us?’

One echo emanating from the door intrigued him the most. It wasn’t loud or demanding, yet, it was important, life-changing and personal. He let his hands touch the smooth stone arch and closed his eyes.

_Lytei was young, perhaps one of her first few weeks on Verkuyl. Thunder was rumbling outside and rain was pelting down. She sat huddled in a sleeping bag on the floor by the light of a camp lantern, poking her fork around a ration pack. Next to her was the baby Togruta, Neri, asleep soundly in a padded basket. Her state of mind was far from calm but, she felt like she had a plan now, she felt safe, for now._

_BRIIP BEEP_

_Lytei’s head shot up, alert and ready as the door chime went off. The door chimed again and Lytei scrambled for her pack taking out a pistol and slowly standing up and edging her way to the door. She opened the door a crack, pistol behind her back._

_“Yes?" she answered._

_“Are you Nulnovian?” a familiar female voice asked._

_“Yes?” Lytei nodded, "Who wants to know?"_

_“I need your help-" the visitor pleaded, drenched in rain, hair sticking to their face._

_"I don’t know who told you I can help but I'm sorry I can’t-" she made a move to close the door and the stranger gripped her wrist with a cybernetic hand._

_"Please I spent my last credits getting here, I’ve asked around for you for three days," they said with distress. Lytei flicked the safety off the pistol._

_“I'm sorry I don't know what you want but I can’t do-"_

_“-Maz sent me, she told me to find the Acolyte!” Lightning flashed revealing for a split second the exhausted, gaunt and terrified face of a younger Nilsa._

_“What?” Lytei asked quietly in shock. She put the safety back on and slipped the small pistol in her back pocket_ _  
__“Please tell me, are you the one they are calling the Acolyte?” Nilsa pulled a small pendant bearing the Jedi insignia from under her soaked and muddy shirt and presented it to her. Lytei's eyes widened. She glanced both ways and opened the door fully._

_“Come in, quickly!” She whispered, pulling her into the house._

"Got it!” Ido exclaimed triumphantly “Lytei?"

"Got it, let's go!" She said rushing down the stairs. Across her shoulder now was a satchel with a republic crest printed on the side. 

BD, beeped a warning on his back and Cal scrunched up his nose as the smell hit his nostrils.

“Is that smoke?” Cal asked. 

"Yeah.” Lytei answered ushering them out of the house, locking the door behind them. 

As they ran up the stairs for the path out of the compound she threw the data key over the railing and down into the cavern’s river way below them. Cal craned his head back and saw the wisps of smoke trailing out of the windows as an orange soft glow grew in intensity inside the home. 

“Why’d you set the house on fire?” Ido cried in confusion.

"To get rid of evidence and make a distraction," She explained.

“What evidence?” Ido queried. 

Lytei shrugged, “I don't know, anything left. Doesn't matter, we’re never coming back, there was no way I was getting my bond back anyway.”

Behind them, people began to shout and the plaza seemed to erupt with activity as people started to notice the blaze.

* * *

  
  


The trio jogged towards the beach. She and Cal had their lightsabers drawn to light their way through the jungle. She hadn’t been in the rainforest at night before. She never knew that a few varieties of the moss and vines were fosforescent. It was surprising to find that the numerous species of bugs she brushed from her clothes every day at work dimly glowed too, flickering pale purples and blues. Lytei wished that she had known about the hidden beauty before now, the night that she would leave and never see it again. 

The fractured shimmering of the two moons on the ocean peeked through the trees as the forest became sparse. Her arm and shoulder ached from all the jostling around their running had been doing. ‘Just a little further then you can hop on the boards,’ she told herself over and over mentally as reassurance.

“How are we going to get out to sea, if the waves are headed towards us this time?” Cal asked her.

“The weather’s died down, we should be alright, but now it’s dark we have to worry about the locrocs,” Lytei explained in a joking manner, but it didn’t really come out that way, nor did Cal know what a locroc was.

“I’m sorry, the what now?” Cal asked. 

“Just use the force thingie, we’ll be fine,” she dismissed. She couldn’t help it. She was too exhausted and high on painkillers to construct her sentences properly any more. She was also hungry, so damn hungry.  
“Lytei, I’m not really sure the Force works as locroc repellant,” Ido argued.

“Sorry, can we just go back to what a locroc is?” Cal asked.

“Boweep vo wo pi bep pip beeow,” BD informed him. 

She nodded impressed by the droid's extensive database.  
“Large, man-eating, nocturnal, aquatic, reptiles that are attracted to noise and vibrations, great. Thanks for the heads up BD,” Cal groaned.

“I messing with you Cal,” Lytei chuckled as they reached the beach, “The board doesn't make a lot of noise, it also stays above water so we’ll be fine-” she dropped the board down and watched it activate- “Unless someone continues to be a _Billei lid_ or fall’s in.” She teased. She activated her cargo sling, “All aboard.”

He gave her a mock look of annoyance and then cracked a small grin before climbing into the sling. At that grin, her stomach fluttered and she wasn't sure if she was hungry or feeling something else. 

Beside her, Ido started up his board. 

“Which way do we go?” Ido asked.

She pointed at a red star near the horizon, “Just follow the bearing of that red dwarf or follow me whichever is easier.” She leant forward and engaged the boosters speeding over the waves.

For a few minutes, they travelled in silence.

“How are you holding up?” Cal asked her suddenly, speaking over the wind rushing past them.

“Shh... the locrocs will hear you,” she joked. 

Cal faced her with a concerned expression, “I’m serious, I just asked BD’s to scan you, he said you’re not doing so great.” 

“I’m just really tired, space lagged and hungry, it’s been about two and a half days since I had food and a kip,” she tried not to seem too concerned.

“We're nearly back at the ship, just hang in there,” he encouraged. 

“What do you think I’ve been doing?” She laughed. A sensation of warmth settled in her chest as she glanced down at the ginger Jedi. She shook her head. Focus now. Think about stuff like that later.

“Uh, Lytei?” Ido shouted across to them, “I got a bad feeling!”

Cal tensed up beside her. 

“What now?” She groaned.

“Let me steer the board, you get in the sling,” he ordered. 

“What? You don’t even know how to drive or have mag boots, you’ll fall off!”  
“I can’t defend us very well from a sitting position, I'm a fast learner, trust me.”

“You better be Kestis,” she caved and slowed the board to a crawling pace and gave him her hand to pull him up. After he stood atop the board she slipped into the sling crossing her legs and BD climbed onto her back.

Ido pulled up alongside them, “I sense three.”

“Locrocs, really?” She asked in confusion. 

“No, scout troopers, ” Cal informed her. “Ido, how much saber training have you had?”

“Uh, I’ve learnt Shii-cho and I was learning Soresu,” he answered. 

“That’ll have to do,” Cal twisted his lightsaber hilt and it separated into two blades.

“Hang on wait! I’m not ready!” Ido protested.  
“You have to be,” Cal tossed one of his sabers at the Rodian boy.

Ido pulled it to his hand and stared at it wide-eyed. 

She could do nothing.

She had tried to avoid this very situation for so many years, hoping she could protect them, but now she felt a horrible sensation start to rise up in her; regret. By shouldering the responsibility of their protection alone, she had left Ido defenceless by himself. 

How could she have been so stupid?

Ido stared at her with such uncertainty and fear and all she could do was watch and hope that they’d make it out of this.

“You can do it Ido, just stay with us, everything will be fine,” she encouraged him the best she could with the panic gripping her chest. 

“Trust in the Force Ido, keep your focus on the Force and how it surrounds everything around you, don’t get distracted by them, you’ve already learnt everything you need to defend yourself. You can do this. Trust your connection to the Force and just stay close.” Cal instructed calmly

“...Yeah,” Ido nodded shakily. 

“Alright, I don’t think we can outrun them, they're fast but they will slow down to keep their distance so they can shoot at us, we just need to make as much ground as we can before they catch us,” Cal said. He then leant forward driving the board forward.

“You really are a fast learner," she remarked watching him manoeuvre up the waves easily. 

Seriously, How did he do that?

"Maybe I had a good example to learn… what not to do," he gave her a cocky grin. She scoffed. His grin faded as the loud metallic hum of speeder bike engines reached their ears. They would be in firing range soon.

Knowing they would try to keep at a distance, Lytei reasoned her pistol wouldn’t be much use. It was designed for close range. That only left one option. She reached into the satchel and pulled out the DC-15A blaster inside. 

The nauseous feeling she had in her gut at Jedha returned. She wanted to vomit and she wasn’t sure if it was the nerves, the memories or the painkillers. She checked it over to find the gas clip was dismally low and the blaster itself hadn’t been charged in five years. If she was lucky she could maybe get 10 shots out of it.

“Where did you get that?’ Cal asked. He sounded spooked.

“Souvenir,” She spat sarcastically. She focused her aim behind them. The glowing engines and dull reflection of the moons shining off white helmets were the only things standing out in the darkness. And they were speeding towards them.

“Buckle up we’re getting to the edge of the reef,” he advised. BD grabbed one end of the cargo strap and passed it to her to help. Lytei Grabbed the other strap and clipped them together across her lap.

The first shot was fired at Ido's board. He swerved and the bolt fizzled into the wave where he had just been. After that came the continuous stream of bolts as they tried to get a lock on him. 

Lytei lined up her blaster with the shining white plastoid armour and fired. Her shot went awry when Cal swerved to avoid fire from one of the other bikes.   
“Blast it,” she cursed. She cursed again when the third bike joined the first and went for Ido. 

“We need to help him!” She shouted.

“One thing at a time!” Cal replied and turned the board around and drew out his lightsaber speeding towards their trooper’s bike deflecting their shots back toward them. 

Ido was headed in the opposite direction. He had his lightsaber drawn and was swinging it wildly in a figure-eight pattern forming a shield from the blaster fire. It was working, but he was overwhelmed.

"Leave my boy alone sithspit!" She yelled and lined up one of the troopers but lost her target as Cal swerved again, coming around and alongside the bike. The scout trooper drew out a stun baton and swung it at him. Beside her, Cal parried the trooper's blows and struggled to keep his balance on the narrow board without magnetic grips. She felt the heat waft off Cal's blade as it passed dangerously close to her head as he swung at the trooper. With a startled yelp, she dropped flat on to her stomach to give Cal more room to work with. BD clung to her back closely and let off a nervous trill. Shutting out the sound of the saber clashing with an electro-baton beside her, she refocused her aim on Ido's attackers, finally lining up a clear shot. She squeezed the trigger twice. 

One shot skimmed passed the troopers head. The other burned through his helmet and into his skull as he turned to see where the shot had come from. The trooper tumbled into the sea, their bike continuing until it ran out of acceleration and ploughed into a wave. Lytei glance over her shoulder at Cal who was still fighting the trooper's aggressive swings. 

"Die Jedi scum!" He snarled. Cal lent back blocking another hit from the baton then looked ahead of them. 

"See ya!" Cal farewelled and leant sidewards steering the board out of the way of a large rock on the edge of the reef. The trooper had no time to react, as they flew past it, the bike collided right into it, causing a small explosion. 

Lytei looked up ahead at Ido as Cal drove the board towards the struggling Rodian. He had turned around and chosen to face the last trooper on the offensive. He wasn't swinging the saber frantically now, he was more deliberate, redirecting the bolts back at the speeder bike. But the rider was still evading the shots. 

"Yes Ido, trust the Force, you’re doing well, hang on!" Cal yelled encouragement.

As they sped to his rescue, a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention. 

"Cal!" She called to him pointing at the whitewash coming off a large object in the water.

"I see it." He nodded.

"I have an idea," she aimed at the path ahead of the speeder bike and held the trigger down, firing all the bolts the blaster had left into the water. As she had hoped, a scaly mass charged toward the spot she had disturbed. 

"Ido! Turn around!" They both yelled at the boy. Ido looked in front of him and saw the wake of the large creature and immediately flipped the board around, deflecting one last blaster bolt behind his back. As they sped past, she heard the trooper begin to say, "I got you now Je-” 

Two jaws of serrated teeth erupted from the waves and snatched the speeder bike, pulling it down into the depths. The trooper didn’t even get time to scream. If you blinked you would have missed it. 

"So that was a locroc?" Cal asked grimacing at the sight of the dying ripples and wash.

"Yep." She sighed in relief seeing Ido powering on slightly ahead of them, alive and well. 

"Nice. lovely. Is there anything appealing about this planet?” Cal asked her. 

"The people?" She suggested. Cal raised his eyebrows and chuckled, pulling alongside Ido. 

"You okay?" Cal asked. Ido nodded and tossed back his lightsaber.

"I'm really out of practice." He puffed. 

* * *

  
  


The rest of the journey to the ship was uneventful. Once they were aboard, Lytei took off immediately. They all sat in the cockpit as the Skalder broke through the atmosphere. 

"You got the coordinates?" She asked him. 

Cal nodded and leaned over to let BD enter in their route, “You ready BD?”

“Bowp woop,” BD affirmed and let his scomp link access the Skalder’s navicomputer. 

“I’m sorry,” Ido spoke up from the seat behind them. 

“For what?” Lytei looked back at him, swivelling her chair around.

“That we had to leave, that I put us in danger,” he mumbled. 

“We were leaving anyway, this was only a complication, something that could’ve been avoided, but, it’s done now,” she sighed, “So let’s hear it, how’d it happen?"

Ido sighed, “One of the stormtroopers was bothering one of my co-workers, you know Sarvi, right?”

Lytei nodded.

Cal turned around as well, listening intently.

“Well, I sensed she was scared, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. So I tried to talk it out, but I guess I shouldn’t have called him out in front of so many people because he got defensive and it only made him angrier. I handled it poorly. He got aggressive, and when he tried to attack me, he shoved her and she fell in front of the harvester.” Ido hung his head, “I didn’t really think… I just pulled her out of the way. Every single one of those Stormtroopers in that squad saw. I’m sorry.”

Lytei sat in silence for a moment as Ido nervously fidgeted in his seat. BD finished inputting the coordinates and returned to him, settling on his lap listening to Ido's story. Cal studied her curiously, wondering what she would say to the boy. 

"It’s okay, Ido," she said finally. “To say you handled it poorly is being too harsh on yourself, you’ve never dealt with someone in a state like that, it takes real skill to defuse a situation with only words, and I think you’ve learnt a lot from that encounter. I’m proud of you, for doing the right thing.”

“You aren’t mad?” Ido looked up at her sheepishly.

“No. Not at you, I know you weren't looking for trouble,” she replied calmly, turning back to the console, bringing the ship around and steering towards the jump point BD’s route directed.

"But now the Empire knows about us… because of me,” Ido hung his head. 

Cal sympathised with him, he knew that awful feeling that sits in your chest like stone, the feeling that it’s your fault everyone you care about is in danger.

"You give yourself too much credit Ido, we don't know what they know about us. Besides, what would’ve been the alternative, let her die?" Lytei asked hypothetically. Cal was interested in where she was going with this.

"I suppose, I should have sacrificed her for the greater good, to keep us safe," Ido answered with his brow wrinkled in confusion. 

“To preserve yourself, you would’ve let an innocent person die? You’d consider that the greater good?” She asked him.

"No, no… that wouldn't be right,” Ido shook his head adamantly. 

"Ido, to not act, would've been self-serving, cowardly and cruel, and to my knowledge, that’s not the Jedi way. I think you made the right choice.” Lytei answered. 

Cal watched her in something not quite awe, but more like wonderment. He sensed Ido’s regret and guilt after her words had completely defused.

Lytei would make a good teacher. 

She was obviously someone with experience and knowledge of the Jedi’s code, but she was removed enough to have outside insight. He wouldn't ever train Jedi, not after what his vision showed him. He had seen that trying to rebuild the Order in a time like this was a doomed endeavour. But, if he was to train Jedi he’d want someone like Lytei by his side, someone who was a connection to the reality of the galaxy.

"Lytei’s right,” He agreed. "To live in fear of being discovered is not the Jedi way either, it can lead to selfish choices and hatred, it’s a dark path.” As the words left his mouth he found himself confronted by them. Had he been fearful to not attempt to rebuild the order? Was fear hindering him from helping people like Ido? “ But that doesn't mean we’ve to be risk takers. I think helping others despite the fear is a test that Jedi face every day in times like this. You did well.”

Cal continued to reflect on his statement inwardly. Was there something else he was supposed to understand from his vision? Had he made the right choice? Should he have destroyed that Holocron? 

As Lytei pulled down the lever engaging the hyperdrive he got the feeling Bogano wouldn’t be the end of their journey together. The stars blended together in a silvery blue light tunnel and he sensed confusion and frustration. He tilted his head and looked at Lytei’s face, her brow was furrowed and her stare was blank. 

“Hey, you okay? What’s wrong?” 

Immediately the feelings retreated, becoming clouded from his view.

“Nothing.” She offered him a small smile then engaged the autopilot. “I’m going to get some shut-eye, we got about a 50 hour trip and I’m going to take advantage of that.” She walked over to the ladder and pointed a finger at them, “Stay up here and keep an eye on things, but don’t touch anything, wake me up if something starts beeping.” 

He turned to Ido as soon as she was gone, “So, any ideas for what we could do for the next 50 hours?”

“There’s a Dejarik board somewhere,” Ido shrugged.

* * *

  
  


She slid down the ladder and made straight for the fresher, gathering a spare change of clothes on the way.

As the lukewarm water washed the grime of Verkuyl’s mud away Lytei sighed in exasperation. 

She had seen the way Ido’s eyes lit up as Cal spoke. Maz was right; she couldn’t do this alone. She hated to admit it, but the kids needed a teacher. As the encounter with the Scout Troopers had made painfully clear, they needed to learn to defend themselves.

The kids needed someone to teach them how to use the Force. Maz was also right that Cal would make a great teacher. However, from what she gathered from his story he told her on the way here, he wanted to rebuild the Jedi Order; and that was a problem.

On Nulnova they had a saying; you can’t fix a leak by putting a bucket under it. 

In the years after the purge, as her naivety was replaced with suspicion, she had learnt that even the Jedi, her hero’s, had their faults. Working in the mines of Dinzo had allowed her to realise the average opinion of the Jedi Order was quite low. People were misinformed, but also the Order was disconnected from the people it had sworn to protect. 

Meeting Nilsa and learning how she had been denied the privilege to become a knight because she refused to fight in the war, opened her eyes to the fact that it was hypocritical for peacekeepers to be involved in a war. And Nilsa was right, the Order, to achieve their code of justice and peace should have been a neutral power in the war. Lytei’s earliest training at the academy had taught her that judicial, legislative and executive arms of power should be separate entries working with, but not controlled by each other. And Executive powers should certainly not be militarised. 

The Order had also fought unethically by using clones. Looking back, it became harder to console the memories of General Ryo and Reed fighting alongside her, with their compassion for her people and their troops, and the memory of Sargent Clacker’s breakdown. Lytei had watched the strongest, most resilient person she knew, cry over the announcement of peace. He could not comprehend the war he had been bred to serve in was coming to an end. She often wondered if that was what had made it so easy for the Clones to mutiny against their generals; the promise of a purpose in a new war of conquest if they followed the orders of Palpatine. 

And then there was the most painful problem; the Order's code concerning attachment and emotion. It didn't work. It only made those who encountered undesired emotions surpess them until they either became cold or snapped and became volatile. It had been heartbreaking to tell Reed she loved him and watch him emotionally implode. It hurt when he became somehow certain that it was his fault, and frustrated when he couldn’t deal with this by burying it and meditating it away. It tore her apart to remember that the last week they had together, he had ignored her, hoping to simply make her feelings disappear.

Did that mean she believed the Jedi were evil?

No, quite the opposite actually. The galaxy needed Jedi more than ever, but it did not need the Jedi Order. Eventually, she would have to talk to Cal about it, and it would be a difficult conversation. Acknowledging that she needed help was one thing, taking her hands off the power steering was another. The Jedi Order as it was was flawed. She would not sit by and watch her kids, the future of the Jedi, make the mistakes of the past.

And speaking of mistakes of the past, her mind taunted. 

She gritted her teeth and scrubbed at her face in frustration. There was another problem with the idea of staying with Cal’s crew for the sake of training the children; Cal himself. 

Not that Cal was the problem, she was, or rather the way she was beginning to feel was. 

She huffed as she shut off the water and let her forehead rest against the wall. 

“It’s been three days, three bloody days,” she hissed. 

It had been three days since she had met Cal and she found herself feeling despondent at the mere thought of not seeing him again. It had been three days and when he smiled at her, her stomach did flips. 

Cal was, as she had said in her own words, ‘noticeably attractive.' Which was a big thing for her to admit because she never felt like this, ever. She had been asked on three dates in five years, and each one ended with her realising she was not interested. She had always reasoned that she was too busy, too serious to notice people around her. This attraction she felt with Cal was also different from what she had felt for Reed. With him, it had taken knowing him and fighting alongside him for two years before even the thought that he was attractive to cross her mind.

At first, she didn’t realise how she felt. It took the flight to Verkuyl to identify what the feeling was and realise why she had gone straight to him for help. She could now even pinpoint the moment that caused it all: the garba. The damned formal poncho.

The moment she met his green eyes as her head poked through the head hole she had thought he was gorgeous. And it didn’t stop at the physical. He was funny and quick-witted, a bit cocky, but not arrogant.

But what really did it for her was the fact that he was so kind. 

Kindness, especially the type he had shown her in the past few days, was so rare in the galaxy today that she had become suspicious whenever someone seemed to care.

She stepped out of the shower and pulled on her wrap and tie dress that she had specifically chosen so she wouldn’t have to face the garba situation again. She left the fresher, walked up to her bunk and flopped down on it.

Was she so used to the selfishness around her that the minute someone showed an ounce of kindness, her heart spasmed? 

Had her heart been so broken by the news of Reed’s death, she craved someone to fill the hole?

She hoped not.

She had never wanted to stick to somebody’s side so desperately but be scared to at the same time. She never felt so frustrated at her own thoughts.

Never before had she been so resolved against acting on a gut feeling. She had been burnt before. Letting herself get too carried away with a Jedi was a bad idea. 

By some miracle, perhaps this was all a side effect of her exhaustion and a foggy mind. She guessed there was only one way to find out.

She let her eyes drift closed.

* * *

“I found it in the aft cache,” Ido poked his scaly head up into the cockpit. 

“Did you wake her?” Cal asked. 

“No, she was in the fresher.” Ido shook his head. “Do you know how to play?”

“I'm a bit rusty,“ Cal admitted taking the round board from Ido’s hands so he could climb the ladder easily.

_A boy no older than 16 sat on the floor smiling smugly. He had short frizzy black hair and dark brown eyes that almost matched the colour of his skin. On his shoulders was Lytei’s grey jacket._

_“I don’t even know why I bothered spending the credits on this stupid game,” A young Lytei groaned. White bobbed hair with dark roots unfurled out of her headscarf as she loosened it to sit around her neck and shoulders._

_“You, just don’t like losing,” The young man gave her a pointed look._

_“You just don’t like losing, meh, meh, meh,” Lytei mimicked him childishly._

_“Look, if you want to win you gotta start thinking ahead, like a battle,” he explained._

_“I can make a battle strategy fine, Reed,” she gritted in frustration. “But I can’t play this stupid game, you’re too good it’s like... Hang on, you’re reading my mind again! Aren't you?!”_ _  
__“I'm not, I just know you too damn well after being stuck with you for so long,” He grinned cheekily at her_.

_Lytei snorted then smiled back, looking at the ground as her cheeks flushed._

  
  


Cal blinked away the image and furrowed his brow. Since when did Lytei have white hair?

There was a buzz as Ido started up the projector and the saved position of a previous game appeared before him. The Rodian reset the board and the monsters rearranged themselves. 

“How’d you know she kept this here?” Cal asked. 

Ido made his first move. “I remembered she let us play it when she rescued us. To help pass the time.”

“Us?” Cal questioned.

Ido shook his head and his large orbish eyes became downcast. “Reth and Cade, you’ll meet them on Bogano, we were Blurg clan.”

“A youngling clan?” Cal asked. He moved his Monnok one space. 

“We left the temple for our Gathering a day before the Purge. Master Sinnube accompanied us, he ended up keeping us hidden for almost two years,” Ido told him, focusing back on the board. 

That news saddened him. Cal had known master Sinnube, he was often found sleeping in the library or hobbling around the temple gardens. Master Sinnube taught him in one of his first lightsaber lessons. The fact that Ido said that Lytei had rescued them most likely meant that the ancient master had died too.

He moved one of his monsters to meet Ido’s.

“So did you complete the Gathering?”

“No. We never got to Ilum. We got that message from Master Kenobi. Master Sinnube knew that our sacred places would be guarded to trap those who tried to hide in them. So we stayed on the _Crucible_ , we planet hopped, but imps found us eventually. The three of us were the only ones to survive the attack, they tried to take us somewhere, but Lyeti attacked the imp’s transport and rescued us. Who knows what would’ve happened if she hadn’t found us,” Ido recounted. 

Cal knew exactly what would have happened if Lytei hadn’t rescued them. 

_“Master Kestis! Help me!”_ The cries of one of his students from his vision rang in his ears. He shook the image from his head. 

“So, how did Lytei find you?” Ido changed the subject, moving his monster to counter Cal’s move. 

“She was after the bounty on my head and electronetted me, ” Cal shrugged.

“Bo Beep too,” BD chimed in from his perch on the dashboard. 

“Yes, she electronetted BD as well,” Cal corrected.

“Well since she hasn’t handed you in for a stack of credits I take it she changed her mind?” Ido chuckled. 

“Let’s hope so,” Cal joked.

* * *

  
  


“I didn't know I needed a chaperone,” The Fourth Sister snarled at him as he walked through the door of the Magistrates office. He grimaced. He never thought he would miss Ninth.

“I didn’t know you’d been let off your leash,” The Third Brother jabbed back. 

She growled, “This is my prey, if you hinder me, I will end you.”

“I’d like to see you try, especially with that abomination,” he pointed to her lightsaber pike she had strapped across her back. He seriously would. He’d take any excuse to run her through. 

“Why are you here, I assume you didn’t come to this backwater planet to insult me?” she folded her arms.

“Insult you? No, no I came to check up on you, see if you're settling in nicely,” he taunted. 

“Go to hell,” She turned away, “I don’t have time for this.”

“What have you got?” He asked her. She scoffed at him and turned her attention to her datapad. He could sense her frustration. “You can tell me or... I can take it-”

“- Not much, There’s no security footage, it’s been erased, only one witness, said a Jedi came in here took the prisoner and a hostage and left, the scout squad pursued them but they’ve lost contact.“ She reported quickly. 

He grinned widely. 

She still feared him. 

That was nice. 

He sensed her hatred wafting off her as she followed a few paces behind. He marched to the back of the building where a forensic bot was examining a stormtrooper’s body.

“Forensic Unit, what can you tell me about the perpetrator,” he snapped at the droid.  
“By examining the angles of these lacerations, I can tell you that these individuals were killed by a lightsaber wielded by someone ambidextrous, a possible duel wielder and standing at a height around 1.8 meters.” The droid reported.

Kestis. 

The Third Brother then remembered what Fourth had said earlier.

“You said there was a hostage taken?” he asked puzzled.

“The Witness said that the Jedi took a hostage and knocked him out, when he came too the prisoner was gone.” The Fourth Sister muttered. “What does this have to do with my case?”

“Where is this witness?” He ignored her. 

“He was at the front desk and knocked out, I don’t think you’ll get much out of him,” she stated.

“I’ll ask nicely,” He glared at her, “Take me to him.”

She audibly sighed and led him to the interrogation room. It was a bit bare compared to the interrogation chambers he was used to, this would look like a breakroom if it weren’t for the mirrored glass panelling on one side of the room. 

At the table with bandages around his head sat a skinny young man, with slicked-back blond hair, dressed grey imperial uniform. Very neat, very timid, unlikely a suspect character. 

“This is officer Tamlin,” the Fourth Sister introduced and leaned back on the wall and tried to look uninterested. 

But he knew she was a buzzard hanging around for the tiniest scrap of info. He would have to tolerate her. 

“I hear you are the only witness,” He started pacing around the table. He liked hearing Tamlin’s heart try to escape his chest. “Tell me this Jedi, what did he look like?”

“I-I ah, he had red hair and was wearing a Verkuylian raincoat, had some scars on his face. I can't say I saw much else, I was more worried about the hostage.” He did quite well to articulate it, considering how terrified he was. The Third Brother sat in the chair across from him.

“There's no need to be afraid of me, unless you're hiding something, officer?” He asked. 

“No, sir, ask me anything, I will help where I can,” Tamlin assured him.

He took out his datapad and held up Kestis’ poster, “Was this the Jedi?”

“Yes, that’s him!” 

So, he’d found his prey’s tracks, he glanced at the Fourth Sister and smirked. He couldn’t pass up an opportunity to show her just how incompetent she was.

“What can you tell me about Ido Ento?”

“I‘ve been trying to tell you, that’s a dead-end, all the personal files were deleted not just of prisoners, housing, personnel, most old employment records too,” The Fourth Sister gritted. 

“He was a Rodian, teenager, quiet boy, kept to himself, I doubt he had much say in the whole thing, it’s those kidnapping Jedi, they’re at it again trying to rebuild their army, snatching whatever poor souls they can find,“ Tamlin told them. 

The Third Brother smiled triumphantly and gave the Fourth Sister a pointed look. “Good thing I did the hard work and asked instead of just looking through records. Sounds like you knew the prisoner… personally?” 

Behind her red-tinted visor, he could sense her glare.

“Not really, no, I had dealings with his family though, which brings me back to the hostage, what is being done to ret-” 

“-Family?” He interrupted Tamiln’s ramble. 

The Fourth Sister pushed off the wall. She stalked slowly across the room, tilting her head examining Tamlin. Her blood was pumping, if she were a wild creature she would have been salivating. 

The room was charged with sick excitement as they shared a look; a catch this big would earn them Lord Vader's, maybe even the Emperor's favour. 

“What family?” Her scratchy voice pried.  
“Uh, I met them as soon as I was posted here, I had to talk to them a lot recently, give them notices of eviction because none of them would join the IWF. Ido was adopted, he was one of the older children-”

“-How many children?” The Fourth Sister demanded.

“I don’t know, she had at least three, I think, there could have been more,” he racked his brain, his eyes flickered around the room nervously.

“She?” The Third Brother inquired.

“That’s what I've been saying, the hostage is Miss Acko, Ido’s... aunty I think he calls her, the Jedi took her,” Tamlin enunciated. 

The Third Brother leaned back in his chair. This had been a very worthwhile endeavour. 

“Is it possible that Miss Acko was working with the Jedi to liberate the prisoner,” The Fourth Sister eagerly asked. 

Anger flared within him. The fool had just ruined everything. He had Tamlin right where he wanted him, he had him believing he was helping this miss Acko. Now he could sense the officer’s unease. He was questioning their intentions. He glared at the Fourth Sister. At least the Ninth Sister had known she was impulsive. At least Ninth knew her place was not the interrogation room. The Fourth Sister was impatient, distractible and easily bored, why the Grand Inquisitor allowed her to live, he had no clue. 

“No, no, not possible,” Tamlin stammered, “If you think that she had something to do with it, you've got the wrong person, Miss Acko is harmless, she can’t speak much Basic, she is the most timid person I know, and this Jedi, he could hurt her,” Tamlin told them what he perceived was the truth.

The Third Brother pulled out his datapad and held out the sketch of the girl, “Is this Miss Acko?”

“I mean you’re going to search the closest spaceport for Miss Acko, make sure the Jedi kept his word, right?” Tamlin avoided eye contact with the picture.

“Oh don’t worry we’ll look for her, she is a _very_ important witness.” The Fourth Sister purred with delight. He rolled his eyes under his helmet. Another thing she lacked was subtlety.

Tamlin stared at the sketch for a long time. The officer’s brow furrowed and then he swallowed.

He smiled, he had all the confirmation he needed; it was her. He had been correct; the scrap rat was working with the moleworm.

He had found them and so much more. 

Tamlin lied for the first time in their meeting as he shook his head and uttered a damning, “No, that's not her.”

The Fourth Sister paced more deliberately, she sensed it too.

“What is her first name?” He asked.

“I don’t know, I never asked,” Tamlin said looking at the table.

“I highly doubt that lover boy,” The Fourth Sister rested her arms on the back of Tamilin's chair and crooned in his ear. “You would have done the data entry, you honestly expect me to believe you never took a little peek at her first name when you read her file?” She cackled. Tamlin looked up at her in surprise, “Oh, don’t try to hide it, you liked her, you don't need the Force to be able to sense it, let’s see,” The Fourth Sister picked up the datapad and examined the picture. "Aww lovely, she’s cute,” she mocked. She glared at him and tossed the datapad back at him, “The artwork is a bit rough though,” she jabbed. 

The Third Brother breathed out in an exaggerated sigh, “Unlike my colleague here, I am not amused, nor do I care for your personal attachment to the fugitive, You’ve already lied to me once, so I suggest you be honest with your answer, as I ask you again, what is her first name?”

Tamlin picked a spot on the table and stared at it. The Fourth Sister began to giggle and run her hands through Tamlin's hair in a mock gesture of comfort.

The officer mumbled something. 

“Speak up,” The Fourth Sister hissed, yanking Tamlin’s hair and pulling his head up to meet his red lensed gaze. 

“Lytei… her name is Lytei Acko,” he shuddered out finally. 

And now he had a full name for his prey.

And, it surprised him. Surely she could not have been this obvious all this time? How could they miss it, how could he miss it? Their M.O and the descriptions, it was all so obvious now. Oh, the Grand Inquisitor would be most pleased.

There was still the problem of this weak-willed rat at the table in front of him. 

The Third Brother sighed with disappointment, slowly walking around the table until he stood in front of the trembling officer. The Fourth Sister continued running her fingers through his hair, eagerly watching to see where this went.

He placed a hand on Tamlins shoulder, “You did the right thing, you’ve served the Empire well, helping to eliminate these Jedi insurgents and their sympathizers,” He patted his shoulder patronisingly. “You have been most helpful… but there’s one thing that I just cannot get past. Do you want to know what it is?” He asked.

Tamlin swallowed and stayed silent. The Fourth Sister sensed what was coming and stepped away from the doomed man.

“I was dishonest,” Tamlin choked out as his face paled. 

“True, but what disappoints me is that you caved so easily,” he tightened his grip on Tamlin's shoulder and unclipped his lightsaber with his other hand. “Now, I don’t think you could have fancied Lytei very much if you betrayed her that easily. Do you know what I hate more than liars? Do you want to guess what it is? If you get it right, I’ll let you live.” 

He always liked giving them a choice to change their ways, a chance of redemption. He loved the moment where he held life in his hands. It was power, true power to decide who lived and who died. 

Tamlin sobbed, “Jedi?” He guessed.

The Third Brother shook his head and thrust his crimson blade into the man's chest. Tamlin cried out and twitched as he took his final breaths staring at the Third Brother’s expressionless silver faceplate.

“Snitches,” He emphasised yanking out his blade and letting the officer slump onto the ground.

“So, our cases are connected then, that is regrettable, the Grand Inquisitor will make us work together,” She hissed stepping over the body. “It appears we’re after multiple targets now and can’t wait to meet Ido Ento and his siblings, I’ve been told I’m good with kids,” She snickered. 

“Kestis and the girl are mine, you can deal with the rest.” He gritted with resolve. “I detest children.”

“Lucky me,” she sneered. “I understand Kestis is quite the prize, but what I don’t get is the fixation on this Acko girl, I was unaware she was within our... jurisdiction?”

“Oh Officer Tamlin has only confirmed what I suspected all along, she falls well within our jurisdiction. Providing us with her alias was most helpful in putting some pieces together.” He deactivated his lightsaber. 

“Oh? What is her real name then?” She folded her arms, awaiting an explanation. 

“Her real name is irrelevant. What we didn't know until now was her new persona after coming back from the dead.” He drew it out for her as slowly, and as belittling he possibly could. “She has been one the Empire has been searching for, yet has eluded us for years. We did not even have a description, a gender, an inkling of who they were... and I’m not surprised now… she never really was clever with aliases-”

“-Make your point,” she hissed.

“Lytei Acko... Miss Acko, Lytei,” he chuckled. 

The Fourth Sister shook her head, becoming frustrated, “Stop playing coy and tell me who we are looking for.”

He pulled out his datapad and opened their wanted profile and tapped the blank photo slot and selected edit. 

“Acko-Lytei, enemy of the Empire, fugitive, devoted Jedi sympathiser and thorn in project Harvester’s side,” he selected his sketch and added it to the profile. “And until now, someone we've only known as the individual code-named; Acolyte.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading.  
> If you want you can find me on Tumblr at [@calsponchoemporium](https://calsponchoemporium.tumblr.com/) and send me anonymous asks or just check it out. Sometimes I post my concept art on there.  
> Let me know if you guys want to know more about in world stuff, cause most of it I am taking from cannon, but other bits I am making up. I can also answer questions in the comments if you have any.  
> If you have question's about Lytei's language ask away because I spent like a whole two day making her language out of boredom.


	9. The Will of the Force

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cal, Ido and Lytei make the long journey to Bogano, and a choice must be made along the way, whether the Jedi and the Acolyte should part ways here, or continue facing the future together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: scary dream sequences, dead body, zombiesque scene.  
> enjoy!  
> I lowered the rating of The Acolyte this week to teen and up because I thought there are a lot of younger fans out there who would feel more comfortable reading something that is rated Teen and up. If I do end up putting something M rated in it I'll just write it separate chapter and upload it in the series but not the main story.

* * *

The floor was dusty again. We've got to sweep out soon, Lytei thought to herself, pulling on her boots.

“Hey Reed, Ari, you up?” she called out. Her voice echoed around the ship. Silence followed. She stood up from the bunk and poked her head into the galley, there was no one there. She frowned. She stuck her head into the storage room.“Bolts?” Even the medical droid was missing from his dock. She couldn’t hear the fresher running, nor did she see anyone in the lounge. 

“Guys, you’re kinda scaring me, are you here?” Despite no one being here, she had the distinct feeling she was being watched. She poked her head into the aft cache. Nothing. She climbed the ladder up halfway and searched the cockpit. Empty.

Had they gone to work without her? 

Why would they leave her?

Grabbing her hard helmet and dust mask from the wall hook, Lytei opened the landing ramp and walked out into the grey wasteland and past the crates and cushions they had arranged into a table and chairs. “Reed! Ari!” she called out. Where were they? She began to run towards the mines. The horizon retreated from her. Her footsteps became sluggish and her every movement was weighed down. It felt like she was going nowhere. 

“Why didn’t you come for me Milady?" a quiet voice asked behind her. 

Only he used that nickname. She stopped and turned slowly to face him. At first, she was relieved, but that quickly left her.

His eyes were sunken. His dark skin was dull and blotchy with bruising. His lip was busted and blood had dried on his torn and tattered clothes. Her stomach dropped.

“I did, Reed,” she told him and took a step towards him. “I went after them!”

He shook his head and sniggered, “Then why am I dead?”

She didn’t have anything to say to that.

“That’s what I thought,” He taunted. “You couldn’t protect yourself, you couldn’t save me, how do you expect to protect those kids. I’m dead because of you.”  
She shook her head and took a step towards him, “I couldn’t Reed I tried but it hurt-”

“You were weak, I would have come for you, even though the pain,” he spat and took a step back.

“Reed, I couldn't. I had to protect Neri,” she tried to explain as her eyes watered. 

“Liar!” He screamed at her. “You were afraid! You were a coward!”

“Don’t say that-” she pleaded.

“Tanei’la!” He sneered in her own language.

The insult stabbed her. 

“I didn’t run from them, I tried, I tried! I’m sorry I couldn’t save you!” she tried to explain.

The light in his eyes left and they became glassy. His skin turned ashen and his movements became disjointed as he reached for his lightsabers, sparking the cyan set of blades to life. He smirked wolfishly and lunged at her. She ducked. 

“I’m dead!” he roared. She stumbled back over a rock and fell on her back. “Take a look at your handy work,” he leered.

Reed's face went slack, his jaw hung loose on his face as his skin shrivelled. His eye sockets emptied and his tongue turned a sickening purple. Lytei screamed as worms began to fall out of his mouth. He was decaying right before her eyes.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” she cried through heavy breaths. 

"Sorry doesn’t bring me back Milady,” he said damningly. His rotting body raised his lightsabers above his head to strike her. She winced waiting for the blow, but it never came. Reed’s corpse toppled back and collapsed on the ground, now just a pile of sinew and bone. His skull rolled at her feet and hollow eyes stared up at her. She let out a single loud sob of shock and relief as she looked up at her rescuer standing in his place. 

She looked as immaculate as she remembered.

Her pink hair swept up in two neat buns on either side of her head. Her blue skin and her dark brown robes demanding attention against the grey void. Her golden eyes held a strange melancholy as they gazed down at her.

“General Ryo?” Lytei wiped the tears from her eyes.

The General stared past her as if she was a hologram recording, not actually there.

“Let go.” The Pantoran Jedi Master spoke finally.

“Of what?”Lytei asked.

“We are dead my child, let us go,” she reaffirmed, “You cannot carry our weight with you forever.”

“What do you mean, I don’t understand?”

General Ryo stayed silent and looked at her one last time, turned, and started walking away.

“Lytei?” a voice called from somewhere. 

“General don’t go! I don’t understand!” she got up and stumbled after her.

“Lytei?” the voice called again.

“General come back!” Lytei cried as the General became translucent and faded away.

* * *

Cal gently shook her awake. "Lytei?"  
“Wha-" she hissed in pain when she shifted her shoulder while turning around to face him. Wincing she propped herself up on one elbow to look at him, "How long have I been asleep? Is the ship okay?” she asked him.

“Ships fine, Ido’s and BD are up there keeping an eye on things, the Mantis just checked in. I thought you’d want to hear what’s happening, you’ve been asleep for about 10 hours,” he informed her.

“Oh wow,” she remarked groggily as she brushed her hair out of her face. Cal tried to imagine her with the white bob he had seen in the past. It was difficult, it was so different from the light brown waves that settled comfortably below her shoulders. He could see why she had changed it. Not only did it change her appearance, it also made her seem far less conspicuous. White hair on a human that young stood out.

He held up the tray in his hand for her to see and gestured to the end of the bed silently asking her if he could sit. She nodded and pulled her legs up to give him room. He set the tray of things Bolton had told him to gather down between the two of them. 

“It sounded like you needed it,” he told her as he sat down. To him it hadn’t sounded like a restful sleep.

“Was I talking in my sleep?” She asked and examined the gauze and jars of wound dressings, her eyes lingering on the cup of tea and three pieces of Bondulli curiously. 

“Yeah,” he nodded. From what he had heard it sounded pretty intense. “You okay, wanna talk about it?” 

He inwardly slapped himself after that left this mouth. Seriously Cal, talk about it? He groaned. He had to keep reminding himself he barely knew her, saying things like that would freak her out.

He gauged her reaction to his words and found she hadn’t shrunken away from him. 

“To be honest mate, I’m not sure yet, I’m still processing it, it was pretty… weird. Must’ve been the painkillers or something,” she frowned to herself. 

He wondered what constituted weird for her. He heard the name Reed and General thrown around a bit. Whenever he dreamt of his old master he'd be a mess when he woke up. She seemed more confused than anything.

“How’s it going on their end?" she asked him.

“They had no problems getting offworld," he told her and watched as her posture relaxed. "Though Greez is stressed out about his petoli weave fabric, something about a menacing Tooka," he chuckled. Poor Greez, if his reaction to him bringing BD back was any indicator, the Tooka must have had Greez tearing his hair out.

Lytei nodded, "Sounds like Riggy."

"Riggy?" 

"A stray Neri adopted, she loves that fleabag more than anything, but between you and me… I wish she'd left him on Verkuyl, he’s a menace-" She nodded down at the tray, “-What you got there?”

“It’s for you,” he explained and picked up the mug of tea and handed it to her, "I asked Bolton if there was anything that could be done to help you. He said you could eat and drink something now, the fast is supposed to be 24 hours before surgery, he originally assumed you wouldn’t have to starve yourself for this long.”

“Thanks,” she took the mug from his hands and stared down at the leaves floating at the top of the mug.

Cal bit his lip. He had never made a cup of tea before, he had only watched how she had done it in the past when she used this mug.

"Sorry, I couldn't find a tea strainer, so I just scooped out as much as I could," he explained. She looked up at him, puzzled.

“That's how you're supposed to make it, this is Kapur Tea, it’s tradition to leave the leaves in so you can read them when you're finished. But how’d you know to let it steep this long, to get the purple colour? Everywhere I go, no one makes it right?” She took a sip and let out a small moan as the warm tea washed down her throat. He had to be chuffed with that response, but she raised an interesting question.

He supposed now was a good time to tell her. It would soften the blow whenever he decided to ask her about something he’d seen from her past. 

“Lytei, this may sound strange but I have a rare Force… ability, it lets me see and feel things from the past … like I can see thing’s histories,'' He began and tried to think of a good way to explain it. “I’ll show you, is there something around here that I would have no idea how to use?”

“You’re having me on right?” she sipped the tea and chuckled. He shook his head. Her chuckle died off nervously. Carefully, she placed her mug down and reached under the bed opening a storage draw. She pulled out a strange object big enough to fit across her lap. It had wires strung across it, an assortment of buttons and a crank handle. He guessed it was some kind of instrument.

“Give this a go,” she passed him the object.

Immediately he knew it was, in fact, an instrument. 

_Lytei was sitting on a crate outside the Skalder on a rocky grey planet. Reed sat next to her listening to her play. She mindlessly turned the crank, rotating a wheel underneath the metal strings creating a droning noise as bass. She pressed down keys playing melancholy chords in a melodic buzzing sound._

_“Way to lighten the mood,” Reed remarked watching the sunset and poking at his meal dejectedly._

_“Well, then, any requests?” she rolled her eyes._

_“Can you play that one about the Jaystalks? The one your mum taught you?” he asked._

_“You mean Yustapirbok’ah?” She questioned and fiddled with the strings changing the key the instrument played in._

Cal copied her movements, flicking a small lever on the side to raise three strings onto the wheel and he turned the crank on the side. He let the instrument play a long open cord before he began to press down the keys in a pattern the instrument had seen many times before. The melody that came out sounded like a bird warbling as a slow folkish melody played over it. He was certainly playing it slower and with not as much finesse as Lytei did, but she seemed to recognise it. 

_“Oritsur_ ,” Lytei remarked in disbelief as she watched him. “That’s impossible, that song… only my family plays it.”

“You call it Yasstarpeerbookah _,_ the Jaystalk’s song,” he told her and watched her mouth hang open in awe.

“Yustapirbok’ah,” she reminisced, “Do you know what it’s about?” She tested. 

“I have my limits,” he shrugged with a grin and handed it back, inviting her to tell him more.

“This is called an Ika’Inna, a wailing box.” She put it down next to her and stared at him, "It is one of the hardest instruments from my planet to learn. That song you just played was about the Mandalorian Jaystalk. The repetitive motif in it is the closest thing left to a recording of the Jaystalk’s call, they were hunted to extinction thousands of years ago. It took me a year to learn that song and you just played it like that,” she cocked her head at him. “Well, not perfectly, but considering you’ve never played before… that’s incredible. How long have you been able to see the history?”

“It’s more like echoes in the Force, I’ve been able to see them since... as long as I can remember,” he told her. 

“That must be overwhelming. Feeling the history of everything you touch? How do you stay sane?” she asked him.

He’d often wondered if the Jedi hadn’t found him, would he still be sane? 

“It’s not everything I touch, when I was young it was overwhelming I couldn’t control it, I would have seizures, but the Jedi taught me how to control my sensitivity, block it out till it became more elective, but there are still some things that overwhelm me, like things that have lots of trauma attached to them.”

"Seizures?" she asked intrigued. Or at least he thought it was intrigue, but the way she was looking at him hinted that she was computing something.

"Like sensory overloads, my mind couldn’t take it, I would convulse-”

"And go unconscious?" she finished.

"Yeah? How did you-"

"Does gloves, long loose clothing, and loud music help?" she asked quietly.

"When I was young or when I’m having a bad day, yeah." She looked at the wall across from them with a furrowed brow. "What is it?"

"Cal…” she began, opening and shutting her mouth trying to get her words together. “The kids... I didn’t want to say anything to protect them, and there are so many things that need to happen before we get to this point but-" she looked down at her lap. He tilted his head. He sensed something within her give way, like a vault opening. "All the kids are force sensitive.”

It took him a moment to comprehend what she had just said.

It made sense the more he thought about it, but he couldn't help the shocked; “What?” that left him.

“Seven of them, three of them were younglings, the rest are young Force-sensitives… and I think one of them may have this Force echo you’ve been telling me about and I-I don’t want it to seem like I'm forcing you to do something, or that I planned this but… Cal, they need someone to teach them… I need help…” she finished with apprehension.

He stared at her and swallowed. He couldn’t, he knew what would happen if he tried.

“No.”

“You didn’t even think about it,” She accused. 

He shook his head, “I did. I can’t Lytei, I just can’t. They will be fine, your doing a good enough job at-”

“I thought I could shield them from this, so they’d never have to learn… but I was wrong,” She shifted closer to him, “Look what happened. What we had, that sanctuary, it wasn't going to last. They need to learn to protect themselves and use a gift that I can't teach them how to use. They need a teacher. They need you.” 

He understood where she was coming from. A part of him wanted to jump at her offer, re-establish his noble Order that had been torn down, complete his mission he had to give up on. But they were just kids, and he was just one person against the Empire. They had no chance. Not in a time like this. 

“Lytei, you can’t ask me to do that. I’m sorry you have to find someone else.”

“Cal... There is no one else,” She told him what he painfully already knew. “They're gone. You, Cere, and them, that's all that's left.”

"No you don't understand,” he raised his voice now, trying to shake the image of his students in torture cells. “I’ve seen what will happen if I try to rebuild the Order, they'll come for us and they will just have more agents to use…” He couldn’t even finish his sentence. 

Lytei appraised him with a glance and sighed, "I'm not asking you to rebuild the Order Cal. I'm asking if you could just teach them to use the Force, to trust it, I saw how you helped Ido with just a few sentences. Even if you could teach Nilsa how to help them. That's all I’m asking, you don't have to get too involved and you can leave, go back to whatever you were doing when I found you.”

He could sense what she was doing, she was trying to reach a compromise. She was a good negotiator, he’d give her that. 

“I can't do that… they wouldn’t be safe not with me around,” He argued.

Lytei’s nostrils flared showing her inner frustration for a split second, but she kept her face calm.

“Cal every day since I made a split-second decision to help my friend, I’ve never been safe. As long as the Empire is out there, everything I do is death-defying. One day, I may die doing what I think is right, or those kids will have to leave my care and make their own way in the galaxy. Whichever comes first, they’ll need to walk their own path, and I won't be able to teach them how, they need someone like you.” She stated factually. “The truth is, nothing we ever do is going to be safe. But I think you know that. We shouldn’t let our fear of the Empire stop us from fighting them. We fight them by doing things in spite of the fear. Those kids are the hope for the future. There is no hope if they die on their knees. Cal, they need at least a fighting chance, just to live their lives.”

It was like somehow she could sense what had been troubling him; was he still afraid of the Empire? Had his trial taught him nothing? Or was he being foolish questioning his force vision? He would admit her words inspired him, but they also concerned him.

“You talk about it like you're raising an army,” he pointed out. The last thing he wanted was to involve children in another war. It would be a slippery path to the dark side if he trained children for the sole purpose of becoming soldiers in the fight against the Empire. He would be no better than them.

Lytei, however, seemed to be aware of this.

“That is exactly why I can’t teach them, Cal.” She Admitted, “Naturally, I'm a fighter first and a peacemaker second. I come from a planet where living and fighting are the same word. And the War… it changed me, for the worse. I may be able to protect them for some time, but I can’t teach them to protect themselves using the Force. If I teach them, they won't be Jedi, they won't be balanced. I am afraid, I’m angry and vengeful. I don't want those kids to lose themselves because they learn from my bad habits.”

“Lytei… I can’t,” he said weakly. He understood he really did, but he couldn’t. Not after he destroyed that Holocron. He couldn't let it all be for nothing. He couldn’t give the Empire new recruits on a silver platter. "I'm sorry."

Lytei’s posture stooped; she knew she had lost. She let out a low contemplative hmm and stood up. She pulled the draws open on the bunk across from him.

“You know, my boy Orv, he’s like you, but he can't control it. We don't know how to help him… we didn’t even know what was causing his seizures until now. He is suffering and afraid,” she made a last attempt to sway him. She pulled a long black jumper and some loose grey trousers out of the draw and turned back to him. “And here you are, not only a surviving Jedi, but one who knows exactly what he is going through.” She placed them on the opposite bunk and shut the draw, still eyeing him. “I don’t believe in coincidences Cal, I'd be damned if the Force hadn't brought us together for a reason.” She folded her arms and scrutinized him. He stared at her silent, pleading brown eyes.

He simply shook his head and looked back at her sadly. 

She sighed in defeat, “Get some rest while I'll watch the ship. You can sleep here-” she gestured to the bunk opposite hers,”-Feel free to use the fresher, these are some spare clothes, I hope they fit.”

“Thanks,” he nodded at her.  
She picked up the tray and slid it up into the cockpit,

“Thanks for the tea,” she nodded and disappeared up the ladder.

* * *

He was left alone with his thoughts. 

It was one thing to say that facing fear was a test Jedi faced and another to accept it.

Was it fear that had made him destroy the Holocron or was it common sense? It was possible that his vision was not of the future, but of his fears: becoming an Inquisitor, or the new Jedi Order being absorbed by the Empire. But, it was also still a possibility that it was a glimpse into the future. 

He grabbed the clothes from the bunk and immediately sensed that they were once Reed’s. He felt the aches and pains of hard days of labour in the strands of fabric. 

He wondered why Lytei had seemingly given up on finding him. From what he had been able to sense, Reed meant a lot to her. It puzzled Cal why she would ask him, a comparative stranger, to train the children when someone she trusted was still out there somewhere. 

He didn't have to think about it too long; the answer was obvious. Reed was, most likely, dead. She had even said it herself; there was no one else left. When Lytei had said they were separated from Dinzo, he got the feeling that she had meant to be separated permanently. He glanced up at the cockpit where she would be sitting, most probably wondering how she was going to continue this journey she had started with Reed, alone, again. 

He took the clothes and headed into the fresher compartment. 

It was dingy and small, but clean. He shrugged down the top of his jumpsuit and stared at his reflection in the mirror above the basin. His eyes lingered on the marred skin on his side where he had barely survived his encounter with the Sith Lord. 

How could he stand against something so powerful?

He couldn’t.

He had learnt that being a Jedi in times like these meant finding a balance. A balance between helping people and being discrete.

In a time like this, rebuilding The Order was pointless. It would just be destroyed again. Choosing not to train the children was for their benefit, it would protect them and Lytei. The Empire was only after him. He reasoned they would be safer if he left. But a tiny nagging voice tugged at him whispering: ”Are you sure about that?”

He thought about himself hiding on Bracca, safe one day, then hunted the next. He thought of Ido. The Young Rodian had reached out in the force instinctually to save his colleague, and he knew the risks. The younger children would be untrained and not fully aware of the dangers. They would be much more prone to using the Force instinctually, especially the boy Lytei had mentioned, Orv. All it took was one slip up. But there were seven kids; seven more chances of a mistake. Seven more chances the Empire would find them. 

Cal inhaled and ran a hand through his hair.

He was lying to himself; they would not be safe now they had gained inquisitor's attention, even without him. 

Lytei was right. Those kids were the hope for the future. They need to be trained in at least the basics of the force to even be able to exercise control.

But he couldn’t, he would fail. He was unsure what Nilsa’s story was, He was pretty sure she had had some training, she was on the run from the Empire and asked for sanctuary with Lytei. Perhaps she could help them, they would work something out without him, he tried to distract himself from the guilt. He kicked off his boots and stripped off the rest of his clothes.

Cautiously he inspected the showerhead and turned both the hot and cold taps to be safe and avoid scalding himself. He tested the water with his hand and hissed. The water was sub-zero. He groaned and turned the cold tap off completely, resulting in a lukewarm drizzle from the showerhead. He could fix this if he had the parts, he thought to himself. Prauf had taught him how within the first few months on Bracca, when he got his own apartment.

An ebbing pain in his chest came as Cal remembered his Abednedo friend. His optimistic, friendly face contorted in pain as a lightsaber ignited through his chest. Prauf had died for him. He’d died for not only him, he’d died so the memory of the Jedi would live, that it would survive through him. Cal stepped under the dismal flow and splashed his face.

“An attempt to rebuild the order would fail,” he whispered to himself as his resolve began to weaken. One day it would be rebuilt, but not with him, it would fail, he had seen it. 

But the Force had guided him into this situation. 

“Why would you show me a vision like that and then lead me to the exact situation you warned against? I don’t understand,” he asked out loud, only more confused. He wasn’t expecting an answer, but he got one.

“Trust only in the Force,” He heard his master’s voice echo in his mind. He jumped and swept his eyes around the small room. There was no one there. He was unsure if it was his own memory or… something else.

He frowned as he realised, he had not trusted the Force, he had trusted in his own judgement. If the Force was guiding him, then this was where the Force had wanted to direct him. Maybe the children listed in the Holocron were not the ones that needed him. If he had gone off in search of them, straight away, the Empire would have followed him, but he also would have never met Lytei. Thinking about it, the Force had guided her to him, out of the thousands of other bounties she had managed to steal the one file with his name. 

He lathered his hands with the liquid soap he found on the shelf. The Force may have willed this, but he still had to choose what he would do next. Destiny was ultimately, his to choose. 

* * *

BD was scampering around the cockpit scanning things and chirping quietly to himself and Ido was asleep in the chair behind her. He had probably been asleep since Cal had left him up here. As soon as she saw that Ido’s head was slumped back and his eyes closed, she pulled the grey tattered blanket from the box under the dash out and spread it over the sleeping boy.

Now she sat one sleeve of her dress stretched down as she re-dressed the blistering wound on her shoulder. 

What was she going to do? 

Not about training the children, although that was still on her mind.

Hearing Cal talk about his history-echo-thing, hearing the possibility that Cal could help Orv, had been the tipping point for her. The children needed training from a Jedi. She had said her piece and there wasn’t much else she could do. It was Cal's choice, and she had done all she could to convince him. 

What was really troubling her was her dream. At first, she hadn’t thought too much about it. But now it gnawed at her. She recalled the image of General Ryo's imploring gaze: "Let us go."

Let us go? Lytei wanted to deny she knew what the General had meant, but that was a lie. She knew what had happened for certain now. Reed was dead. She couldn’t hold on to him anymore. She couldn’t hold on to the guilt either. She had to let him go and focus on the children in her care. They needed her complete attention, especially now. She believed she hid it well, but she was rattled. Two run-ins with Imperials after four years of nothing was something to worry about. 

Grimacing, she covered her burn with a fresh bandage and pinned it in place. Focusing on what was ahead meant letting go of _pirihul_ \- all that weighs on the soul. That was easier said than done. If she followed the way of her ancestors, the way to let go would be to avenge their deaths. If she was still the person she had been five years ago, she might have been stupid enough to hunt down that masked monster and kill him, well try to. But she wasn’t that girl anymore, nor could she ever be her again. As much as she wanted to avenge her best friend, she couldn’t afford to go looking for trouble, she had too much to lose. She would have to find some other way to get closure. Some way to not only lay her past to rest, but Reed and General Ryo as well. 

Watching the small droid wander around the floor, an idea occurred to her. 

“Hey BD?” she called to him as she pulled her sleeve back up and picked up a piece of bondulli. He ran up and jumped up on the dash tilting his head curiously. “Do you know much about Bogano?” She asked and took a bite of the orange pastry. She never thought anything would taste as good as that first bite. It nearly brought tears to her eyes. 

“Boeep owvo rripp?” The droid chirped confidently.

“Oh, is that right? you know everything?” she chuckled. “Good thing I asked the right Droid then huh? Are there caves there?”

“Wop?” BD focused his optical unit on her.

“Just asking,” she shrugged. The droid projected a large map of what seemed like a mix of cave complexes and some kind of ancient temple. “Are there any that are empty?” she asked.

The droid blurted out a long stream of trills and boops as he suggested a few unconnected cave systems and then proceeded to theorize as to why she had asked.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, “Wow your database is impressive, but no, I've completed my vigil, that's not why I asked about caves. How do you know about my people’s customs?”

“Hmmm boowoop.” The droid admitted in a sorrowful tone. 

“A memory block, oh that’s no good buddy, do you think you’ve been to Nulnova?” she asked curiously. BD trilled in a sad tone as he admitted he couldn’t remember if he’d been there.

“How about you tell me something you can remember? “

BD perked up and excitedly told her that he did remember about various historical facts and customs of the Nul’la.

“Oh, impressive,” she nodded with encouragement, “Did you know that girls do it at a different time to boys?” BD shook his head and she popped another piece of bondulli in her mouth. “Well, you can add this to your database then,” she mumbled as she chewed. “Boys complete their vigil when they're 17, girls, however, do it a week after they come of age,” she told him. 

“Bowo pep vowo eep?” The droid asked. She quirked a brow. She didn't think that phrasing would stump him. 

“Well depending on nutrition and genetics it can be earlier or later but on average somewhere between 11 and 14,” she informed him. 

BD’s processor whirred and he asked if she was referring to a human female anatomical change. 

“Yeah, sorry I thought you understood,” she apologised. 

“Oo pep vrrr tripp?”

“When did I do mine?” she chuckled, “That’s a very personal question BD, but if it helps no one has completed a vigil since the war arrived on Nulnova. It wasn’t safe, and now… well from what I’ve heard, the Empire restricted the practice,” she trailed off sadly. Her mind drifted to her younger sister who should have completed the tradition by now but probably hadn’t. “I’m 19 now, you can do the math,” She turned and smiled at the droid. 

BD buzzed out the correct age and she nodded, sipping the last dregs of her tea and looked down at the shrivelled dark leaves at the bottom of the mug. They had settled in an almost complete ring with a bare patch on the top left section. She was never too good at remembering what her mother’s description of each pattern was but, this one, she remembered as if her mother was smiling at her whispering in her ear right now.

“A question asked has been answered,” she read. She glanced towards the ladder to where Cal was downstairs and she heard the fresher turn off. “I just hope it’s the one I want to hear,” she snorted to herself. 

“Hey, I think your heat regulator in the fresher is cracked!” Cal called from down in the living area a few moments later.

 _“No Ga Myin Mino,”_ she remarked to herself. She’d always wondered what was wrong with the shower, but that was not the question she was hoping would be answered. “BD keep an eye on the dash, will ya buddy?” The droid booped in reply. “I’m sorry I should've told you about the water,” she apologised sliding down the ladder. “I kinda forgot, I’m used to it, I haven't had a hot shower since the Clo-” her mouth abandoned her sentence as she turned to see Cal standing there, shirtless, drying his hair. Before she could stop herself. Her eyes wandered over his torso noticing his taut muscles that were well hidden by his lean frame. A large nasty burn scar on his side drew her eyes' attention from his well-shaped chest before she regained her self control. Lytei turned back around. Then she panicked, had turning around made it obvious she was looking at him? Should she turn back around and face him? “Ah sorry, I should’ve checked to-to-to see if ah…”

“It’s fine,” he answered nonchalantly, but then noticing her reaction he retracted his statement, “Uh--- unless I made you uncomfortable. Sorry! This is your ship I should have-”

“No, no it’s fine,” she turned back around to see he had pulled the jumper on and his pale cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, much like hers. “I just wasn’t expecting you to be so-” Don’t say that Lytei, she scolded herself. “So-s-so the shower, Cracked regulator?” she saved.

“Yes,” he nodded thankfully at the change of topic. “The regulator’s cracked, it’s an easy fix, I can do it for you, when we get to Bogano, I’ve got some spare parts that might help.”

“Oh?” she asked distracted, taking in his ruffled half damp hair. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. She shook it from her head.

“You don’t want me to fix it?” Cal asked puzzled. 

“No!” she corrected as she realised she had actually physically shaken her head. “I mean, if you can fix it and you want to please, go ahead. Actually, teach me how to fix it, since we’ll be parting ways.”

“Sure,” he nodded and folded the towel in his hands and laid it on his bunk. He turned back to her, his expression was drawn into a pensive frown. “Lytei...” 

She gave him her full attention.

“I have to talk with my crew first but…” he looked at her and the uncertainty seemed to leave his eyes. “...I don’t think we’ll be parting ways too soon.”

Her mouth opened in slight shock, “You mean…”

“I want to help teach the children, help Orv,” he affirmed. “But... I’m just going to help you and Nilsa start the kids off, then that’s it, they make their own path, okay?”

“What made you change your mind?” she asked curiously.

“The Force willed us together and I’m supposed to trust the Force, if I did nothing to help you and the kids, I would be acting out of fear, not trust, and fear is not the way of a Jedi,” he explained. 

So she had made a convincing argument. Lytei tried to hide a bit of smugness that pulled at her lips.

“Well, since you’ve decided to help, I better let you get some shut-eye, cause trust me you're gonna need it,” she advised, stepping back towards the ladder. 

“Yeah, I guess so,” he nodded and sat on the bunk. His stomach growled and she whipped her head around. A sudden flare of horror filled her.

“I’m so sorry, I should find something for you to eat, you must be starving, oh _strufe_ , Ido hasn’t eaten either.”

“I’ll live,” Cal shrugged and laid back on the bunk. 

“No, it’s unacceptable I’m a hostess, my mother would’ve slapped me up the head for not feeding my guests,” she muttered. She paced into the galley and began to rummage through the pantry for something edible.

“Don’t worry about it!” Cal called from his bunk. 

“No! I will rustle up some food for you and Ido that isn’t too spicy,” she assured. Searching the darkened corner, she found her stash of instant portions in a box and groaned. It wouldn’t impress any taste buds, but they weren’t awful. It would have to do. Giving the pantry another once over and finding the shelves bare again, she sighed. "I need to get used to living on this ship again," she thought to herself as she flicked the kettle on.

* * *

They spent the rest of the journey taking shifts in eating and sleeping, playing Dejarik and repairing or cleaning something around the ship. Cal had wasted no time in seeing how far Ido’s training had progressed and how much the boy remembered. By some simple and slow sparring Cal assessed Ido’s abilities, watching the techniques and forms he naturally gravitated towards. Ido had a small skill set, especially when it came to lightsaber combat. Ido admitted he was never really inclined towards lightsaber combat as a youngling. Cal believed him, he could tell from the short while he had trained with Ido that he was strong with the force and seemed more reliant on using the Force in his defence and attacks. Ido preferred to use the force to push and pull Cal and redirect the momentum of his attacks, sidestepping out of the way. It was impressive for someone with only the training level of a youngling, but Ido still needed much more practice if he was ever to face an opponent with more intent and aggression.

In the latter half of the journey, while Ido was sleeping, Lytei approached him and asked if he could help her fix the lightsaber in her care. She explained that during the fight with the Inquisitor, the blade had been damaged. He taught her how to recalibrate the focusing unit and get the blade back to the clear bright green and focused blade it was before the cortosis had shorted it out. 

But what Cal found interesting about the lightsaber was that, when he touched it, he couldn’t get a clear sense of who wielded it. Of course, the lightsaber’s most recent wielder had been Lytei, that he could sense, but he couldn’t sense Reed's Essence in the blade, which was strange because Lytei had said that the saber was his. Reed's touch was on the Lightsaber he sensed it, but the crystal inside wasn’t Reed's. The crystal inside of the hilt should have contained him, his presence, his memories, but it didn’t. He casually asked Lytei about the odd fit the crystal chamber had for the crystal it housed and she reluctantly admitted that she had swapped the crystal inside with one of Master Ryo’s crystals. He asked why and she shrugged and said she did it out of sentiment, which he sensed was a lie. But he decided not to press her and showed her how to properly clean it and maintain the weapon, as it was in desperate need of it.

It didn’t seem too long before he watched from his seat as the boggy planet appeared out of the tunnel of hyperspace. BD input the coordinates of Cordova’s landing pad. 

“Hang on a tick BD,” Lytei said as she turned on a box with a glowing yellow display that looked like it had been salvaged from another ship and wired in by an amateur. “We gotta check for Imperial activity, We don’t know if they have been watching here while you’ve been gone.” Lytei turned a dial and static noises emanated from it. 

“What kind of scanner is that?” He asked as BD curiously scanned the device.

“This isn’t a scanner, that’s the scanner-'' she pointed at a display screen in front of him. “-that'll only pick up a ship or a space station with imperial computer coding if it’s powered up, but this beauty here-” she patted the ancient piece of hardware, “- helps me pick up everything. Probe droids, stormtrooper coms, mouse droids, the whole shebang, if it uses an Imperial bandwidth, this noise box will detect it.”

“Noise box?” Cal asked curiously.

“A frequency calibrator, old tech, these were used to test com’s, navicomputers and scanners ability to recalibrate when they experienced interference, but nowadays, they design most things to self-test and recalibrate automatically, which allows me to do this.” She flicked a switch on the side of the box and the white noise it produced amplified and scratched his eardrums.  
“If I set it to test the bands the Imperials use, it emits interference for a few seconds and their systerms will recalibrate, then, because this box is a testing transceiver, we will be able to pick up any Imperial transmissions when they automatically switch to a new bandwidth to compensate for the interference,” she yelled over the noise. The high pitched ringing subsided and back into a buzzing static.

“Why does it have to be so loud?” Ido complained rubbing the sides of his head. 

“Shh,” Lytei hushed them as she returned to tuning the dial. 

“Anything?” Cal asked. 

“Shh! I’m listening,” she held up her hand. She watched the yellow display screen flicker as her eyes scanned the frequency numbers. “We’re clear, if there was anything near the landing site, even encrypted transmissions and scanner readouts still make noise, we’d have heard it on the feedback. I’ll do another thorough check on the surface when we land.”

“That’s so cool,” Ido said with excitement, “Can I have a go?” 

“Maybe tomorrow I’ll teach you, we’ll need to do a sweep regularly to make sure we don’t get any surprise visitors,” Lytei looked back at the boy and smiled reassuringly. He watched as Lytei switched off the noise box and a thought occurred to him. 

“You used the noise box to find the mantis on Jedha, didn’t you?” He accused.

“No, I used the scanner to find your flashy ship, “ She corrected with a fake smile, “I used the noise box to hack your comms and find you specifically,” she explained with a playful tone. “And you were kind enough to give me your coordinates yourself.” 

“Really? I actually told you where I was?” He asked sceptically.

“Well you told Cere, I just happened to be listening,” she jested, taking the steering and piloting them out of orbit. 

“Is the whole planet grass and puddles?” Ido gawked behind them. Cal watched Ido stare out of the viewport. 

“Pretty much,” Cal said smiling at the boy's awed expression. 

“Can I sleep in a tent?” Ido asked hopefully.

“Why?” Lytei chuckled and prepped the landing gear. 

“I always wanted to go camping,” Ido admitted. 

“I can’t say I've done much camping either,” cal admitted 

“I mean, it depends how many tents we have, but don’t get too excited, camping isn’t too comfy,” Lytei told them.

Clouds passed the viewport as the ship neared the surface. 

“But that’s part of the experience isn't it?” Ido said, “You always made it sound fun. You and your friends, on strange planets telling ghost stories, shooting battle droids using night-vision visors.”

Lytei’s face darkened slightly, “Wasn’t exactly camping but-” The ship touched down and she powered down the engine, turning back to Ido with a forced smile “-Wish granted, don’t ever say I don’t let you kids have fun.”

* * *

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading.  
> If you want you can find me on Tumblr at [@calsponchoemporium](https://calsponchoemporium.tumblr.com/) and send me anonymous asks or just check it out. Sometimes I post my concept art on there.  
> Let me know if you guys want to know more about in world stuff, cause most of it I am taking from cannon, but other bits I am making up. I can also answer questions in the comments if you have any.
> 
> If you have question's about Lytei's language ask away because I spent like a whole two day making her language out of boredom. At some point, I might add a language dictionary to the series so you guys can read what Lytei says, but not yet, some words need to be kept secret for the story's sake.
> 
> If you guys wanna know about the Ika'inna I based it off the real-life instrument the Hurdy-gurdy, just check out the Blacksails theme song if you want to know what one sounds like or youtube a hurdy gurdy to get a look at how one is played.


	10. Down the Boggling Hole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally reaching the safety of Bogano the two crews decide that they will be spending the foreseeable future together and try to organise themselves, but unresolved issues cause tensions between crew members, particularly Merrin and Lytei as Merrin grows suspicious of Lyteis actions. Can they work out their differences? Meanwhile, the Inquistors on their tail plot their next move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long. I have just had a lot of work and study to do. Sorry. BUT here's a long chapter to make up for it.
> 
> warnings: injuries, talk of amputation, talk of death, funeral customs

* * *

Cal watched as the Mantis landed next to the Skalder. He and Ido had just finished setting up a tent and digging a fire pit, which on a mash land planet, was an impressive feat. Lytei had taken BD and said something about setting up some sensors, he hadn’t seen her in about two hours but he wasn’t worried yet, she said she would take a while. 

He and Ido waited as the landing ramp opened. There was barely a second between the ramp hitting the ground and the children sprinting out of the ship at full speed.  
“Come back here!” Nilsa yelled after them in frustration. 

“Ido!” they all smiled and gathered around the boy and asked him a cacophony of questions. 

“I’m happy to see you guys too,” Ido bent down as they wrapped their arms around his waist and legs in an awkward group hug.

“It’s good to see you safe Ido,” Nilsa joined them and nodded at Cal, “Thank you.”

“Cal!” Merrin called out to him and smiled as she exited the ship Cere and a teenaged Chargrian in tow.

“Where is Lytei?” the Chargrian girl asked, her features scrunched up in concern.

“She’s fine, she's setting up some sensors,” Cal explained and watched the girl exhale in relief. 

“You let her go alone?” Merrin frowned.

Cal shrugged, “She insisted she would be fine, BD’s with her, she should be back soon-” 

“Go on, Get! Shoo! Get off my ship or I’ll turn you into a rug!” Greez screeched as he chased a tooka off his ship. That must be Riggy. The tooka blinked at the Latero stomping back into the ship and stretched out in a sunny spot, sinking into the grass.

“I take it your trip went smoothly?” Cal laughed as he joined Cere and Merrin.

“Other and Greez fussing over his furniture, we did fine,” Cere reported with a smile. 

Cal had to grin at the thought of Greez maybe appreciating BD a bit more. He may have been a droid but at least BD’s programming allowed him to care if he was upsetting someone. He looked at Cere and Merrin. In a short while a lot had happened but now was not really ideal for discussing that. 

“We all need to talk, debrief, but I think we should set up camp and wait till Lytei and BD come back, after dinner maybe?”

“I’ll try and get the kids organised and get them to help,” Nilsa agreed. “The younger ones are so full of energy after being cooped up for so long I think perhaps it’ll be best to let them tire themselves out. Reth and Ido, you two go get Cade and start helping unpack, I’ll keep an eye on them-” she nodded to where the children were gathered around a Boggling burrow, “-Oh for the love of-please tell me those aren’t poisonous?” she massaged her head.

Cere chuckled, “No they’re bogglings, they're harmless, but tell the children not to venture too far out onto the mesa, or down the sinkholes, there are larger creatures that are predatory.“ 

“Aunty Nilsa! Come look at him, he's so fluffy!” Neri called out to them.

Cal had to smile as he watched the tiny togruta try and coax the creature out of its home.

“I swear she’d try and befriend a ranclor if you didn’t watch her,” Nilsa muttered as she walked off. Cere lead Ido and who he assumed was Reth back to the Mantis as Merin stood watching them leave. 

“I need to talk to you.” Merrin turned to him.

“Okay?” He frowned at her as she grabbed his elbow and began leading him away from the earshot of the crew. “Merrin?”

“I don’t like this,” Merrin whispered to him.

“I know, it's dangerous, but this won’t be forever,” he tried to reassure her. 

“No, not _this_ ,” she gestured to the camp. “The kids are fine, but Lytei, she’s... I don’t know I just have a bad feeling about her.” 

Cal tilted his head at the Nightsister. He could sense her unease, but he could also sense something else. Something more than her suspicions was troubling her.

“Merrin what is this about, what's wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong with me!” she hissed defensively. That only made him more concerned. “There is something wrong about Lytei,” she tried to explain again.

"I know we have only just met Lytei, but I trust her she has good intentions, maybe you’re being a little too suspicious… not that that's a bad thing, I value your opinion, but I think you’re misunderstanding what's-”

"-She is hiding something Cal, something other than those kids, I sense darkness in her, can you?” Merrin was adamant.

Cal shrugged, "No… I mean she is hard to read, but I-”

"Do you sense fear, anger, guilt? She is scared of something and she is hiding it. My guess is that thing is that she has something she doesn't want us to know and she is hiding from us.” 

“Merrin, we all have secrets, things we are scared of, we all have a past, just because we’re not open about it doesn't mean she is plotting against us. I am wary too, but I trust her,” Cal offered her a reassuring smile and rested his hand on her shoulder. “What’s really troubling you?”

“The last time I trusted someone, without them proving themselves worthy of it, was Malicos, and you know how that turned out. And I don’t like feeling like this when I can’t...” Merrin trailed off and stepped back. Cal read her glum expression and then sensed what was troubling her; fear.

“Merrin?”

“Cal,” she began and looked down at their feet, “My Magick, it comes from the water, the ichor and the mists of Dathomir, you describe it as harnessing the Darkside's energy on Dathomir… but, I’ve been away from it for a while now and…” 

“You can’t use your powers anymore?” Cal finished. 

Merrin looked up at him and nodded solemnly. “It's not gone, but I can feel my connection weakening, I only have enough reserves for one or two complex spells, I don’t know what to do, I feel empty.” 

He knew that feeling. Not being able to use the force, it was awful to be cut off. On Bracca he often felt the urge to use The Force, so many times but he couldn’t, he knew what would happen. “Maybe, we will return to Dathomir, let you recharge.”

“No, Cal,” She shook her head, “I can’t rely on going back and forth, I need to figure out how to use my Magick in a new way, or find a way to live without it.”

“Have you ever tried using the Lightside force energy? This planet has a strong connection, maybe you can learn here, you are force sensitive after all,” he suggested.

Merrin chuckled sadly, “I wouldn’t even know where to start trying, even communing with my sisters, they can not help me, but I will find a way.”

“And, you’re not alone Merrin, I’m here to help you, who better to help you connect with the force than a Jedi?”. 

“Perhaps you have a method to your madness, just keep your senses aware, Jedi, while I can not,” Merrin smiled at him, but it was fleeting as she looked past his shoulder and saw Lytei trudging across the muddy mesa toward their camp. 

Cal watched as the children cried out in delight and ran to meet her. She dropped down on one knee hugging them and ruffling their hair. He couldn’t hear what she was saying but he could tell she was happy. Very happy. As BD climbed off her back the children immediately became distracted. Cal snorted as BD hopped around the kids' feet, letting them pat him, trilling and beeping his appreciation for their attention.  
“Looks like someone’s made some new friends.” 

“Miss Acko, for your health’s sake please let me examine you,” Bolton’s electronic voice rang out as he strutted down the ramp of the Mantis towards his patient with determination.

“Okay, Bolts,” Lytei relented, joining the droid and walking past Cal and Merrin on the way back to her ship. She looked she had been busy, she was covered in dust, soot and dirt. Perhaps she had gone caving to set up the sensors.

“Thank you for keeping them safe Merrin, the kids are quite fond of you, Neri tells me she wants tattoos like your’s when she’s older,” she smiled but winced as the impatient medical droid jabbed her with a hypo. “Ow!”

“I must insist,” the droid prompted again. Lytei sighed and waved at them. Cal watched as the droid scanned her from behind as she walked in front. Cal creased his brow in worry as the blue light of the scan turned red and flashed with urgency. 

“I set up your old station,” she told the droid, “It’ll be like old times.”

“I hope not, I prefer to be free to move without a charging cable attached,” the droid told her.

“Well, some times I wish I’d never let Nilsa fix your charging components, at least then I could anticipate your attacks.”

“Miss Acko, I need not remind you that my protocol prevents me from attacking any sentient being, but if you are referring to my hypodermic injections, I will not apologise for keeping you alive,” Bolton stated matter of factly.

“I was actually referring to your random medical exams, but I would prefer you warn me before jabbing me with something,” she mumbled before continuing up the ramp of her ship and disappearing from their view.

“Noted,” Bolton replied and followed after her.

* * *

He didn’t see Lytei again until after dinner. Apparently the surgery took longer than expected. Greez had made something for dinner. Cal wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but as always, Greez’s cooking wasn’t half bad. After Nilsa had made sure the younger children were asleep on the bunks in the Skalder, the older three kids, his crew and Nilsa, sat in the Mantis’ lounge. Bolton and Lytei were the last to arrive. 

“Well we’re all here, so we’ll get started,” Cal stated as he watched Bolton help Lytei sit propped up on the lounge chair, her arm suspended in a sling. “So I think it will be best to start with what has happened the past few days, So; a few days ago an Inquisitor found me on Jedha, and we think he has mistaken Lytei in her mask for a Jedi too, then when rescuing Edo we found out that another one was on the way to investigate his case. We managed to get offworld before they arrived and erase records but because of my presence, it is possible that the cases may have been connected. But abecause of the records being erased and the way Lytei staged the rescue, we should’ve thrown suspicion off Lytei and the rest of the children.”

Cade raised his hand. Everyone looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but he still didn’t speak until Cal nodded at him and gestured for him to speak.

“Hi, ah, Master Kestis, Ido, Reth and I are a bit lost here, what’s an Inquisitor?” he asked. Cal looked at Lytei, she met his eyes and looked away. So, she really had sheltered them?

“Um, Cade, is it?” The boy nodded. “You can just call me Cal, I think maybe Lytei might be able to answer that question.”

She shot him a dirty look and sighed, turning to the teenagers. “Inquisitors are force sensitive agents the Empire send to hunt Jedi, they are dangerous and well trained, we want to avoid them at all costs.”

“But we aren’t Jedi, why are they after us?” Cade asked. 

“It’s that fact that we could become Jedi, that they see as a threat,” Nilsa added.

“So you knew about them then?” Reth accused, “Did you think that maybe you should tell us?!”

“I know a lot about what the Empire does to people like us, most of it is not something I want to share or relive Reth, if we keep something from you it’s for good reason,” Nilsa gave the girl a stern look.

"That's not the point, the point is we deserve to know-"

“Which is why we are telling you now Reth, how do you feel now that we’ve told you they’re out there?” Lytei questioned.

“I’m mad you kept this from us...” Reth folded her arms.

“And?” Lytei prompted.

“I’m...I don’t know, kinda scared,” Reth admitted. 

“That's exactly why we chose not to tell you. Are you all in any more danger now than you were before this meeting started?” Lytei asked, looking at the three teens. 

They shook their heads and uttered a hesitant ‘no.’ 

“I won’t lie and say that there is nothing to worry about, but you have always been in this danger, what has changed is that you are aware of it, that is all. By not telling you Nilsa and I hoped to make you feel safe. Don’t let simply knowing that those sons of bantha’s are out there take that from you, you hear me?”

Reth nodded slowly. Ido stared at the floor in silence.

“So what do we do now?” Cade asked.

“That’s kinda why we called this meeting,” Cal jumped in, “Lytei and I were talking and we think we should stick together for a little while.” He turned to his crew and gauged their reactions as he said the next sentence, “I want to try and teach the children some basic’s with the force but also, with your help, Cere, teach Nilsa and Lytei how to continue to teach them, for when we eventually part ways.”

Greez shrugged.

Merrin frowned but kept silent.

Cere looked at him with apprehension, but it wasn’t intense enough to shut him down immediately.  
“Cal, you do realise how dangerous it will be?” she pointed out. 

He nodded, “I do, but I think it would be more dangerous to not teach the children the basics of control,” He then glanced at Lytei and Nilsa, “But also Lytei tells me Orv is like me, he has the gift of Force Echo. I want to teach him to focus it, like Master Vos taught me when I was young.”

Cere nodded, “And you feel like this is the right thing to do?”

“The force willed our paths together for a reason, so yes, I believe, that for now, this is the right thing to do.”

“Then I will help where I can.” Cere smiled warmly at their guests.

“Well, if we’re staying together we're going to have to get organised,” Greez clapped his hands together. “We got a lot of mouths to feed, a lot of supplies to get organised-" he counted on his fingers, "-boundaries we have to establish starting with the tooka,” he snarled, “It stays off my ship, kapeesh?”

“We’ll try our best to keep him off the Mantis, but he tends to just do what he wants,” Ido chuckled.

“Greez is right,” Lytei joined in, “I have no provisions left on my ship, Nilsa?”

“We have enough to feed our lot for the next two days, but we also don’t have enough non-perishables if there is an emergency,” Nilsa reported.

Cere nodded, “So we’ll need to make a supply run.”

“Well least now we’ve got plenty of credits,” Lytei shrugged, “Even some Wupiupi. If a small group of us leaves tomorrow and goes to a trading post in the nearby and stocks up, those still here will have enough supplies to live off till then.” 

Cal frowned. It made sense, but it made him feel uneasy, "I don’t like splitting up, even for a short while, if one party comes under attack, then the other won’t be able to help.” 

“That is true,” Cere nodded, deep in thought. “But I think travelling together would draw more attention, a small group of us who’s identities aren’t yet known to the Empire is a lot less risky, but we should be quick.”

“I agree, we need to find a safe planet, if Trilla found her way here, it may take a while but the Empire will realise we are working together. And they’ll look here,” Cal sighed. 

“I can network and investigate suitable planets,” Bolton spoke up.

“Network?” Greez questioned. 

“I am acquainted with a few Republic and Jedi sympathisers, we network, let each other know where it is safe, where it is not, what is occurring where each member is,” Bolton informed them. 

Greez frowned, “So you have, what? An anti-Imperial gossip club?”

“Our information is… word of mouth and observation-based, one could define it as a gossip club, I, however, prefer the term network.”

“Bolton’s contacts have helped us a lot over the years, they’ve never steered us wrong,” Nilsa affirmed.

“One of Bolton's contact’s is how I found your ship,” Lytei shrugged.

“Wait, found our ship? Why were you looking for us?” Greez frowned.

“You didn’t tell them?” Lytei asked.

“I didn’t really get the time to,” Cal scratched the back of his neck.

“You were a bounty hunter,” Cere nodded, “I figured it out.”

“Wait, you're a bounty hunter!?” Greez exclaimed.

Reth threw her hands up. “I feel like I don’t even know you anymore, next thing you’ll tell me Lytei isn’t your real name!”

Bolton turned to Lytei. The human and the droid exchanged a brief, awkward look.

“I was only a Bounty hunter for a few days, I didn’t like the career path,” Lytei explained.

“If I can draw our attention back to the task at hand, I must insist that I and Miss Acko be included in the away team, we need medical supplies and preferably a detour to a Medcenter,” Bolton proposed.

“Medcenter? I thought you fixed her?” Greez squinted.

“Miss Acko is far from ‘fixed.’ I have made her comfortable and helped repair the superficial damage. Unfortunately, the nerve damage is too extensive for me to treat with our limited resources. She needs artificial nerve replacements if she is ever to use her right hand's fine motor skills effectively again. If that process is too expensive it may be cheaper to opt for a complete amputation and cybernetic replacement.”

Cal looked at her in shock, he had no idea it was that bad.

“Bolts!” Lytei gritted.

“I fail to see how keeping your condition secret benefits the situation,” Bolton argued. 

  
“Well, I believe it’s settled who two members of the away team are,” Cere nodded. “If Lytei is the pilot for the away team, they’ll take the Skalder, Greez should stay here in case we need to get off-world in the Mantis”

Cal glanced at Merrin who had been very quiet the whole time. “Merrin?”

“It is good. I have no problem. I will use the time to meditate and prepare some potions,” she remarked curtly. 

“I was actually thinking you would be a good member for the away team, you aren’t on as many wanted posters,” Cere told her. “In order to monitor coms in the area and run decryption on those files BD retrieved, I have to stay here.”

Merrin frowned and Lytei nodded in agreement, but her expression was reserved. 

“I should go, I have a list of supplies-.” Nilsa began.

“-No Nilsa you need to be here, you can make a list and give it to Bolton, he’ll remember it, you should stay, and learn from Cal as you begin the kids’ lessons,” Lytei pointed out. 

Nilsa bit her lip but ultimately agreed.

“So it’s settled then?” Cere asked, looking to both Merrin and Lytei.

“Yes. I will see you all tomorrow before we depart, I think I will rest now.” Merrin stated and left the ship to go sleep in the tent she and Cere had set up earlier. 

Cal watched her go with concern, but he didn’t really have any words to offer her, this was a problem that she had to work through with Lytei. 

“Well, sounds like a good plan, suppose we should all get some rest, we’ve got a full day ahead of us,” Cade clapped his hands together and cut through the awkwardness. 

Slowly, everyone dispersed to get ready for sleep, until Cal and Lytei were left alone in the lounge. 

“I didn’t know how bad-”  
“It’s not your fault mate, it was Ido or Polis Massa and I made the call, I didn't want Bolton to tell anyone, I didn't want the kids to worry or Ido to think it's his fault, but hey, compared to other things, losing an arm or hand is nothing.” She tried to shrug but it was lopsided. 

Cal grimaced, he couldn't help but recall the Ninth Sister saying something similar.

“You know it’s okay to be upset about it, don’t devalue yourself like that.” 

“You think that was me being self-deprecating?” She tilted her head at him. “I’m upset, obviously, but I’m trying to find some meaning in suffering. I look at this and see that losing my arm meant that my family would be safe. But there is so much unnatural and meaningless suffering out there because of the Empire, and perhaps, my family being safe at my arm’s expense means that some people in the future will suffer less. That’s the way I was taught to look at it, some kind of philosophy someone created to try stop cycles of revenge and war, guess it didn’t always work though.”

He supposed that view was similar to the Jedi's in a way. It was similar to balance. when things are not balanced there was more violence and suffering in the galaxy. When things were balanced things were... natural. 

“I guess, I’m just asking if you're okay?“ He looked at her. Her brown eyes met his and she offered him the smallest of smiles.

“I will be,” she assured him 

“If you’re not, let someone know, doesn’t have to be me, Cere’s a good listener, but just… take care,” he told her as she looked down at the ground awkwardly and her cheeks reddened.

“I’ll do my best,” she quickly nodded and turned to leave, “Good night Cal.” 

“Good night,” he responded watching her leave the ship.

“Bee bopa trill bito,” BD sung behind him.

“I do not,” he argued.

The droid snickered back at him. 

“If you keep saying things like that, you’re sleeping outside, buddy.” Cal teased the droid.

* * *

“No!” the Third Brother slammed his fist on the dashboard of the TIE interceptor.

“Oh no, what is it now?” the Fourth Sister groaned.

“She’s wiped the Navicomputer!” he ranted. 

Sometimes the Inquisitor's competitive nature was their undoing. That's why he preferred to work alone and did not venture out of the fortress often. His master's prefered to use his talents in the interrogation chamber. He preferred it as well. At least, in the interrogation room, he was the best. No one could upstage him in that field. No one could replace him. 

“So the planet you think they are hiding on is the one the Second Sister retrieved the Holocron from? And she’s wiped the location from her ship?” Fourth wondered out loud. 

“Yes, do keep up!” he snapped. 

“Did she wipe the fuel log?” she asked. He lifted his head and stared at her in shock. That was... actually, an intelligent idea. 

“No she didn’t,” he grinned wickedly.

“One useful thing the Jedi taught me. Before the war my Master and I would catch smugglers that way, they never wiped the fuel log, only the Navicomputer.” She sighed wistfully, he looked back at her wondering what expression was under that helmet. The moment passed when she started to cackle. “And now we use what she taught me to catch Jedi, Ironic isn’t it?” she snorted and climbed out of the small cockpit. 

He shut down the console and followed her to the TIE’s exterior. She had already torn open the fuel computer’s panel and pulled the connector port out. She handed it to him. He looked at the readout on his datapad as he connected it. He scrolled through the grid coordinates and selected the relevant timeframe and ran the coordinates through a converter. 

He read through the list of fuel stations and planets and the levels of fuel received at each. Bracca, Zeffo, Nur, those were given, known planets in her reports. But Ontotho? That was where things became interesting. The Second Sister took a full fuel tank at Ontotho then another full tank at Jakku? Quite a distance without a stop in between and without returning to base. If she had returned to base, the fuel computer would have said Nur, it was standard procedure to refuel every Imperial ship that arrived. 

“Find any discrepancies?” the Fourth Sister hissed over his shoulder. He rolled his eyes. He pulled up a map and drew out his stylus. 

“On Ontotho she must have found something that gave her a location, she stopped to refuel at Jakku and then a full tank at Burska, another again on Kashyyyk,” he highlighted the two systems, “Then another full tank at Arkanis … before a quarter of a tank on Nur.” He highlighted hyperspace routes between them. “And well, we both know Nur was her last stop.”

“Do you think you’ll be promoted to Second?” the Fourth Sister asked suddenly.

“I hope not,” he replied without thinking too much. He regretted it as soon as he heard the Fourth Sister’s quizzical hmm. 

“Too much pressure Brother?” she chuckled.

“Interrogation and reconnaissance are challenging exercises that I excel in, exercises I can not continue in if I become a lead investigator and coordinator, I am too hard to replace in my current position, which suits me comfortably." He looked back at her and with satisfaction, sensed her disappointment that her words hadn’t landed the blows she wished they had. “Perhaps the Grand Inquisitor will promote you, you have bought in more fugitives than the Sixth Brother did, and yet he holds you in low enough regard to place you further under Vader’s scrutiny,” he smirked. 

She growled, “So you truly have no ambition, no drive? My, my, dear Brother, do you need to be reconditioned?”

“Do not mistake my shrewdness as a lack of motivation, I have plenty of drive, unlike you however, it is not expressed as petty competition,” he dictated to her like a child. “I like where I am.” He advised her, “And if you want to keep your head attached, I suggest you learn to like where you are too, or make yourself utterly indispensable, because right now, dear Sister, you are completely expendable.”

“So what drives you then, if not competition, Brother,” she crooned, though he could tell his words had disturbed her like he intended. He could sense the self-doubt bubbling in her. 

“Loss,” he responded curtly, shutting the fuel panel.

“Oh big deal, we all have losses, that was one of our first lessons. What did he take? A hand? A Leg? I lost my ears,” she snickered.

He grimaced as he remembered himself kneeling, the Sith Lord’s blade raised to strike his left shoulder but at the last second veering away. He remembered clearly the wheezing mechanical voice remarking: _“This one already knows.”_

“Physical mutilation is nothing compared to what else you can lose.” 

“Well, that’s a bit vague-” she started.

“And your incessant gibbering is distracting, we have a planet to find,” he concentrated as he ran the calculations in his head. 

“Should I tell the troops to prepare the shuttle for Ontotho?” the Fourth Sister asked. 

He sighed, “We know that is not the planet we are looking for. Anything the Second Sister found there she would have found because of her personal connection with her previous master, we have no such insider knowledge. A trip to Ontotho would be a waste of our fuel and time.” 

“Ah, so you suggest we look in edges of known space using the fuel consumption to narrow down the range of planets. A direct approach, I’ll send this to statistics.” 

"No need, I’ve calculated the range, we will be looking for a planet in this parsec of space,” he circled an area on the map.

“Well great, that narrows it down to maybe a couple hundred thousand habitable planets,” she scoffed. “Not to mention it's largely uncharted, it could be riddled with gravity wells and nebulas, finding a hyperspace route to this place would be impossible.”

“Exactly why we're not going there, yet. Why expend our resources and effort when we just need to be close enough to get their attention?” he pointed out.

He pulled up _The List_ on his datapad. The inhuman cackling that came from the Fourth Sister confirmed that she understood what they had to do. If there was one positive attribute to working with her, it was that she was enthusiastic.

“So should I pack for cold weather or for something a bit more tropical?” she asked. 

“We’ll be going to Ahakista, which has a temperate climate I believe, but it also has...” He found what he was looking for and held out the file displaying it to her. 

She examined the photo attached and giggled with delight, “Aww, they have a lovely smile.” 

* * *

Merrin woke up to sloppy footsteps in the grass outside her tent. It was very late in the night or early in the morning. She shot up and peered out of the flaps of her tent. A dark figure was slinking about collecting embers from the fire and putting them in a metal canister. They wore dark clothes with a canvas satchel over her shoulder. A hood was drawn over her head but Merrin could tell who it was from her stature and the fact that their arm was in a sling. It was Lytei.

Stepping back from the fire she looked around one final time before turning on a dim lantern and slinking off into the night away from the campsite. 

Why would she need embers? Was she going to light a fire? Why was she leaving camp in the middle of the night? Was she meeting someone? 

She sensed she had been hiding something, now, she had proof that Lytei was keeping secrets. She contemplated waking Cal up but knew if she waited for him to get out of bed and get changed she would lose Lytei’s trail in the darkness. It would be better to follow her and then tell Cal what she had seen and make her accusation with proof. 

She rolled out of bed, taking care not to wake Cere as she slipped on her boots and exited the tent. Silently she crept through the grass following the dim light of the lantern in the distance to guide her. Merrin reached out in the Force, sensing the ground at her feet, her affinity with the Force not allowing her to fall down a crevasse. 

She had been walking for about 15 minutes when Lytei’s lantern light disappeared. Merrin became wary that Lytei may have caught on to her following her so she slowed her pace and crept around large stones hiding behind them for a few moments before darting to the next. As Merrin neared where Lytei‘s light had disappeared, she saw that it was still lit and Lytei had just entered a divot in the ground, a sunken cave. 

There in front of the cave knelt Lytei, looking up at the moonless sky holding up a vibroblade.

 _“Kip’jonte sei bei wesei,”_ Lytei chanted and thrust the blade into the dirt. Her hand hovered over the hilt briefly before leaving the blade it sticking up by itself and reaching up to remove her hood. 

Her hair was pulled up on top of her head in three neat buns held in place by three large hair sticks with black and white beads dangling from them. 

Her face was painted with a stark white base. Black encompassed the area from below her eye to just above her eyebrow and stretched from ear to ear another thinner black line ran from between her eyebrows down the ridge of her nose and split her lip, stopping at her chin. Two thin ash grey lines ran from her eyes down her cheeks like tear tracks. 

Merrin was stunned. What was she doing? Obviously not just taking a midnight stroll.

Merrin crept up to the mouth of the cave and peered in.

In the centre of the cave was a large stone with fresh scorch marks where the once flat surface of the stone had been carved into a shallow basin. Merrin now remembered when Lytei had returned from’ setting up sensors’ she had been covered in soot. She now knew for certain that this was what Lytei had been doing that afternoon, she had been preparing this place for whatever ritual she was going to perform. She must have used her lightsaber to carve the stone into the shape she desired. 

_"Moi maeigh, kip ere…"_ Lytei muttered and placed her bag on the ground and walking to the corner of the cavern and retrieved a pile of fuel logs and some sustaining pellets, things from an emergency fire starting kit, and began to lay them out in the stone basin.

Merrin began to feel very uneasy. This was obviously some kind of ritual. The words Lytei was saying, although Nulnovian, were chanted in a formal tone. The dress, the painted face, the fire, the premeditation; all these things led Merrin to believe that she was watching Lytei enact a spell of some kind. 

She didn’t know much about Nulnovians, neither did the rest of the crew. It was a possibility that they were magick wielders too. 

Merrin was used to rituals, the oddness of Lytei's actions did not disturb her, but the unknown purpose of these actions did. This was a ritual, but a ritual for what?

Lytei suddenly wailed, startling her. Merrin's eyes narrowed as Lytei sustained the long note and pulled out a brown bundle of fabric from the bag. She began a haunting mantra. It sounded primal and it sounded mournful. Lytei’s voice shook with tears as she sung:

“ _Ga’ge myin folom wesei._ _Banei’ge bunei'jonte ein bunei n'ere asla piri miyn korin kip.”_

She unfolded the fabric in drawn-out purposeful movements.

_“Fal piri'hur miyn folom hul.”_

Merrin inhaled sharply as Lytei held up a strand of what looked like a dark cord with a few beads strung on it. But Merrin knew better. It was hair, human hair. And any ritual that involved a piece of someone’s essence in her experience was bad, very bad. 

The hair, the singing and the fiery altar led her to believe that this was a ritual her sisters referred to as the Shar’din. It was a hex designed to make the person it was being performed on weaken, while the practitioner draws the victim's strength. If it went on for months the caster could absorb the victim’s life force and kill them. 

Merrin panicked, the hair colour was very similar to Cere’s. She couldn’t let Lytei burn the hair, it would be too late then, She couldn’t let Lytei hurt her new family but she had to use her magic sparingly. Biting her lip, Merrin glanced around to see if there was anything that could help her use the element of surprise to her advantage. Her eyes landed on the vibroblade sticking out of the ground. Merrin rolled out from her hiding place, grabbed it and sprung forward with a cry.

Lytei’s singing abruptly transitioned to a shriek of alarm as she stepped back from Merrin's swing. 

Her eyes widened, "Merrin stop! What are you doing?!"

"Stopping you from harming my family!” Merrin snarled and took another swipe. Lytei dodged and sidestepped keeping her distance in a ready stance as Merrin circled her. 

"What? Merrin I don’t want to fight you-you can't be here, you can't see me like this,” she stammered and pulled up her hood.

"What are you doing? Answer me!” Merrin demanded.

"Merrin, I, don’t-” she held up her good hand in surrender.

"Who is your victim, Cere?” she interrogated.

“This is a misunderstanding, I am not going to hurt anyone!”

Merrin pointed the blade at her and slowly stepped up to the bag on the floor, she nudged the bag open with her foot and without breaking eye contact she crouched down to pick it up.

“I knew I was, right I knew you couldn’t be trusted, you're trying to hex us…” her hand reached into the bag and felt fabric and metal pieces brush her hand, then something small with hard jagged edges. But she felt so much more than that. No, she sensed more. "What... What is this?” she frowned at the sensation. 

“Merrin, please, let me explain.”

She felt pain. She felt sadness. No, it was grief, grief like she had felt before when her sister’s had been killed. It was the Force, it felt like the presence of the Darkside, but not quite. It felt wounded, not corrupted like she knew from the dark places on Dathomir.

“Why do you have this?” Merrin pulled out the black tiny, jagged crystal. She shuddered holding it. There was something very wrong with it. Merrin didn’t know how, but she felt like it was in pain. That it was dead or dying. She could sense that once upon a time the crystal was alive, but now it was barely more than a lifeless rock. “What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s a Kyber crystal,” Lytei explained, “The Jedi use them to make their lightsabers, that was one of Reed’s, He told me that the crystals bond with their Jedi, that they resonate together,” Lytei explained taking a step closer to Merrin, keeping her distance to show she didn't mean any harm and held a hand out prompting Merrin to drop it her palm. “I don’t know what's wrong with it, it turned black like that after they took Reed, I can only guess it’s like that because they made him suffer when they killed him, and that made it suffer too. It doesn’t work now, last time I tried to use it in my shoto, it overloaded and blew the pummel off.”

Lytei placed the crystal in the basin with the other items.

“Reed, your Jedi, I thought you said you were separated?” Merrin accused, but she lowered the vibroblade. 

Lytei swallowed, “I didn’t want to admit it to myself let alone Cal or Cere, the look of hope in their eyes, hoping that there was someone else out there…” Lytei explained as she looked down into the basin at the brown cloak and braided strand of hair. She tentatively let her hand stroke the garment and a sad smile ghosted her face before a tear spilt over her cheek. 

Slowly putting the pieces together, Merrin looked around the cave at items already laid in the stone basin and then at Lytei’s attire.

"I am so, so sorry,” Merrin gasped in horror, “This is a funeral, isn’t it?”

“It’s okay no harm has been done, you just scared me and saw me while I was in Ikabei. I should have known doing this in secret would make people suspicious, but I didn’t want to frighten anyone with our funeral customs. Outsiders of Nulnova find it … strange,” Lytei explained.

“Ikabei?”

“Nulnovians don't show anyone the back of our necks, we must always keep it covered with our hair, a collar or scarf. To have someone uncover it, see it or touch it without permission is shameful. To unveil it means we accept death and are ready to die. We only do this in battle or during Ikabei a funeral, or… when we decide to trust someone until death.”

“What should I do now that I have seen it?”

“I have to kill you,” Lytei deadpanned, but then smiled slightly, “Or marry you... but I think it’d be easiest if you uncovered yours and joined the funeral ceremony.”

Merrin nodded. Pulled her hood down and tied her hair up. “What do I do with this?” she held out the vibroblade.

“Put it in the dirt where it was, there are no weapons except the deceased’s at funerals, so we ceremonially disarm ourselves at the start of the procession.”

Merrin put the blade back into its earthen sheath and stood next to Lytei. She studied her face as Lytei removed her hood again and stared at Reed’s robes and padawan braid. Merrin watched her place the last few items in the stone resting place and then pick up the canister with the embers.

“I don't know much about Jedi burial customs but Reed did tell me the Jedi cremate their dead. We don't, but I thought I'd do the best I could and combine it with the only way I know to send someone off.” Lytei turned to Merrin, “How do your people do it?”

“Traditionally, we incase the fallen in pods made from animal hides and decorate them with tassels and jewellery that belonged to them, then we hang the pods in trees and from ledges so they become one with Dathomir,” Merrin told her sadly and left out how she personally had to bury and burn her sisters as there were just too many for her to put to rest properly. “We sing funeral rites and chant for hours to imbue the bodies with the strength to reanimate and help serve Dathomir once again if need be.” She gauged Lytei’s reaction. She seemed surprised, but more of a curious surprised than a horrified surprised. Merrin saw in Lytei’s eyes that there was a silent knowing, that she understood.

“Nulnovians sing our funeral rights too, but our dead only live again in our memory. I can sing them in my language and then I can teach you the Basic version if you want to join?”

“I would be honoured,” Merrin nodded and stepped closer. Lytei stepped forward and tipped the embers out into the basin and blew on them gently, coaxing out a flame. The sustaining pellets ignited and as the flames spread she begun her song again:

_“Ga’ge myin folom wesei._

_Banei’ge bunei'jonte ein bunei n'ere asla piri miyn korin kip._

_Fal piri'hur miyn folom hul._

_La n’folom myin talie lai mewe myin._

_Mewen myin kami sei la banei talei banei’jek._

_Myin watekai sei asla mei’adla wate he._

_Buil he sha’la ein’jek, korin moi erete wesei.”_

Lytei finished and started the song again in Basic:

“May your soul find rest and fight no more on the battlefield of life. 

Let the burdens you carry with you be light. 

Let those you leave behind mourn their memory of you.

Let your legacy inspire those who still fight the hardships of life. 

May you have patience while you wait for us. 

For death comes for all, may it find us ready.”

Lytei would sing each line first and Merrin would repeat after her as they watched the flames slowly creep over the items in the basin.

For a while, the two of them stood watching the flames in silence. Merrin watched the brown cloak shrivel and shrink and the padawan braid sizzle away leaving a few ceramic beads. She glanced at Lytei who watched in silence as tears mixed with the black paint around her eyes creating trails across the white and grey paint on her face. 

“What do we do next?” Merrin asked.

“Traditionally we would play music till the sun rises and talk about their life, and when the light of the sun reaches the cave entrance we say our final goodbye and seal the tomb. If I was still able to, I would play Reed’s favourite song on my Ika’inna.”

Lytei's gaze settle briefly on her injured arm dejectedly. 

“We can talk about your Jedi’s life then,” Merrin suggested and sat down staring out of the cave watching the stars slowly move across the sky as the suns chased them. “Although I am curious, if he died four years ago, why lay him to rest now?” 

Lytei sighed ruefully and joined her, sitting cross-legged as the fire crackled behind them.

"The Inquisitor I fought took great pleasure in telling me how he killed him," she hung her head, "I wanted to tell your crew he was dead but, I was too raw from the news, I just couldn't bring myself to admit it. I spent years hoping he got away, that he was out there. I felt- still feel, that it was my fault,” she admitted. “She never would have found him if it wasn’t for me. I made a stupid mistake and they tracked me, I led that Inquisitor right to him and I let her take him. I tried to get him back from Nur but I couldn’t, I wasn’t strong enough. I should be dead, not him.”

Merrin’s brow creased as she listened to Lytei’s admission. She sensed it now, Lytei's ‘secret’ her ‘fear.’ It was that she had failed. She had lost, and she didn’t want anyone to know she was not as strong as she appeared.

Merrin's expression softened and she rested a hand on Lytei's shoulder and offered the only comforting words she could think of; “But you are alive, and you have a purpose; those children in your care. I think your Jedi would be proud. It seems to me that he wanted to protect you, he did what he did because he wanted you to live. I don’t think he would want you to feel like you do, he would want you to make the most of your life.” 

“A part of me thinks you're right, but another part of me still struggles to accept that. I had a dream that Reed and his Master were restless because I wouldn't let them go, that I felt guilt for their passing. I am trying to let go, but it’s hard. So I wanted to say goodbye properly, not only lay Reed to rest but try to put myself and the guilt to rest too. I reasoned burial is a good way to leave something behind, and give things a proper end,” Lytei explained.

“He meant a lot to you, this Reed?”

“He meant everything to me,” Lytei nodded sadly, “Towards the end, all we had was each other. I loved him and I think he loved me, maybe not the same way, but still, we were very close. My language calls it Maeh'la, there is no one word in Basic to describe it. I’d say a deep friendship, a bond where you would die for each other without a second thought, a bond where when you're in trouble they will be there without question, a bond where even sitting in silence is a deep fellowship, their words are the law, their promises are never broken. We didn’t have much on Dinzo, but we were happy, I thought… I thought that we would be together for the rest of our lives.” 

“I had that once,” Merrin empathised. “I loved one of my Sisters, Ilyana, I thought we would have a future together, but I had to bury her too.” 

“What did you love about her?”

“She was mischievous, she had this smile that was contagious,” Merrin reminisced bittersweetly, “She had a beautiful singing voice. She was rubbish at potions though, I had to help her so she could keep up with the other Sister’s our age. We would spend nights in the swamps practising. Sometimes I wonder if she pretended to be worse then she actually was, just to spend time together,” Merrin chuckled.

“She sounds wonderful, I’m sorry for your loss.” Lytei offered her condolences.

“What did you love about Reed?”

“He was smart and very talented, but never arrogant about it. He was serious but not distant and stiff, he was always so thoughtful and kind. Perhaps it was because he could read my mind, but he always knew how to cheer me up. And I always felt safe with him. It didn’t matter what we were facing, as long as we were together I felt that it would be alright, that everything would be okay.“ Lytei smiled at the memory. “When I first met him, I thought I was going to die. We had been cornered by droids after the air raid on the capital, I had already seen what they did to my older brother, I thought I was next. So I closed my eyes and waited. There was the terrible noise of blasters but I felt nothing. So I opened my eyes and there he was with his Master and a pile of smoking battle droids, a Jedi knight in shining armour, taking my hand and telling me everything was going to be okay and looking into his eyes, I knew it would be.”

"What was his favourite song?"

Lytei laughed, "He liked this song the Clones used to play in their barracks called, 'Correllian Nights.' I learnt it when he got bored with my limited repertoire of traditional songs." She looked down and shook her head and laughed again bitterly.

"What is it?" Merrin asked.

"Depending on how well my arm is replaced, it just occurred to me that that trashy pop song was the last thing I ever played on my Ika'inna, and that might be permanent." 

Merrin glanced at Lytei's injured shoulder and an idea came to her mind. An idea that half an hour ago she would have thought was insane. 

“Lytei, you and I have had a difficult start, I was mistrustful of you, and I am sorry for that,” Merrin admitted.

“It’s okay, I understand, it’s good to keep your guard up, especially these days. I don’t blame you.” Lytei reassured her. “I hope we can be friends in the future?”

“After what you have shared with me tonight, I already consider us well on the way to becoming friends,” Merrin stated. That earnt a small smile from Lytei. The Nightsister looked up at the dark sky and wondered how long it would be till sunrise. There seemed to be enough darkness around them, if she was quick her idea just might work. “Do we have to wait here until the sun rises?”

“It is custom, but then again this funeral isn’t very orthodox, If you want to go back to sleep, it’s okay.”

“No I am not tired, I think I can help you, but I need to get something from my tent, and I need you to tell me where you keep your instrument?”

“I keep it in the storage drawer under the left bunks on my ship, why?”

“Do you trust me enough to use magick on you?”

“Uh, as long as you’re not going to try to reanimate Reed or send me to be with him, yeah I guess?” she said with uncertainty. 

“I was thinking of something a bit more simple. I’ll be back soon.” Merrin promised. She stood up grabbing a lantern and jogged off into the night leaving Lytei alone with the dying fire.

“Okay. I’ll be here... waiting... nervously.” Lytei murmured to herself.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading.  
> If you want you can find me on Tumblr at [@calsponchoemporium](https://calsponchoemporium.tumblr.com/) and send me anonymous asks or just check it out. Sometimes I post my concept art on there.  
> Let me know if you guys want to know more about in world stuff, cause most of it I am taking from cannon, but other bits I am making up. I can also answer questions in the comments if you have any.  
> If you have question's about Lytei's language ask away because I spent like a whole two day making her language out of boredom.


End file.
